Phone Phobia

I am afraid of talking on the phone.... there are only like two people that im not afraid of talking on the phone too....

its really weird and i wasnt always like this and im not joking. i dont like it at all. ive lost friends because of it.

 

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Are you, like me, also affraid of the phonemonster who hides in your telephone and eats your tongue when you pick up the phone?

 

haha no, bird, im not

hm i did telemarketing before but that was three years ago.... maybe i could try a part time job in something like that again....

 

takes me a while to call anyone.. i have to talk myself into it. i have caller id too.. if i don't know the number.. i don't answer it

 

i hate talking on the phone passionately, and am somewhat "scared" of phones in general, but it's not strong enough or disrupting to my daily life enough to describe it as a phobia.

however, even if yours is a full out phobia, all phobias can be cured by generally desensitizing you to your fears. a former psych professor of mine once described the methods he and another doctor used to help cure a woman of her fear of snakes. her phobia was so strong that she couldn't leave the house for fear of coming across a snake outside. of course she wasn't going to get over it by going straight to the pet store and picking up a boa constrictor and seeing theres nothing to be afraid of...it took months, i believe. first it was little things like bring a rubber snake into the room with her. then for longer periods of time and bringing it closer to her. though she knew it wasn't real, it was still quite unsettling for her. eventually they got to the point where she could go to the reptile area in the zoo, or pick up a nonpoisonous snake from inside a tank. but it took time, and some major easing into it!

if you have a very real, very legitimate PHOBIA of telephones, you simply wouldnt have the capacity to have a telemarketing/call center job, and would need to work your way towards something like that. if you just dont like it, then such a job would simply be stressful and unenjoyable.

 

I realy don't anderstand why are you scared of talkung on the phone? No one can realy harm you trough the phone!

 

i know where mine comes from.


my mother

she used to get mad at me when i was a kid if i didn't answer the phone

"hello this is the ________ residents, madeline speaking"

LAME!! you don't know how many people LAUGHED! when i said that shit. i hated answering the phone.. she'd make me do it until i "had it right" :&

if she's home.. i can't make a phone call.. hhmm you know it's actually gotten worse again .. now that i've moved back in here..

 

this is cool, i didn't realize that there were other people afraid of talking on the phone like I was. I can talk to people I really know, like my best friend, or family members, but like when people I meet online ask for my number, or give me theirs and tell me to call them, I get petrified....I don't have a problem with talking to them, though, like I love emailing people back and forth, and stuff like that, and I don't think I'm necessarily AFRAID of the phone...I don't know how to describe it...but I'm glad that there are other people out there like me...

 

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I think you might get over it naturally, I used to be like it. I think if you keep practising you'll get more confident. Just have small conversations like ordering pizza's and stuff, then you might get used to it more and be like you used to be.

 

I'm scared of talking on the phone with a passion because I'm terrified of what I'm going to say... I stutter sometimes and draw blanks....

I hate akward silences and am always afraid that I sound stupid or boring or both.

I'm fine on line or in person, it's just the phone.

 

And yeah I am trying to do that and maybe slowly getting better at it.

I have to pencil people into my weekly planner to call them... there are a few that I keep pencilling in for one week, not doing it... and keep moving them from week to week though and it's really frustrating cause I feel like there are people I should have called by now but it's almost like I can't.

I know I'll feel better if I just do it though.

 

Thank you, you said what I couldn't really say at the time...I hate awkward silences sooo much, that's one of the biggest reasons I hate talking on the phone, and I also feel like everything I say is stupid or boring, or whatever....it's just too awkwardly creepy....not my thing.

 

i know and it's like ... dont you just feel like you have to say something but if you say something like "im making soup for dinner" long pause... just... arrr! i cant stand it!

 

Sometimes I freak out when I talk on the phone. Like if I'm calling someone and I feel shy, then I get icy cold and start shaking, and sweat more than I do when I go running. Yesterday I was talking to a leader of the expedition of my trip to India, and I've known her for a long time and usually am just fine with talking to her. The last time I'd seen her I was really tired and had practically no energy, and I asked her if she was annoyed/upset about that, etc. She was talking bout how when I get tired I don't talk much and don't tell people what's going on, and it's a bad pattern of mine and self-centered, and I'm rude and uncommunicative/don't give enough information, and when I asked her why she hadn't brought it up at the time (I asked cautiously and politely), she said that I had asked for feedback about me (I hadn't, specifically,) and did I "want honesty and truth" I said I did, in particular truth, and there was a long pause. Then I thanked her for her time and hung up.

I must say, if she wants me to communicate more, then she needs to communicate more to me, because I had no idea.

Towards the end of the conversation there were drips of sweat running down my arms, and I was crying my eyes out (in a way that she couldn't hear me.)

So I just felt like getting that out, and also I don't know if I would have reacted as harshly if I'd been in person with her. But I also am afraid of talking to people when they are in moods such as that^ so I don't know.

 

I have a selection of novelty phones for sale that may help you get ove ryour fears. Once these phones have you rollin on the floor laughing, you'll never be afraid of them again.

BEE PHONE - The phone fires killer bees from the mouthpiece when someone picks up on the other end.

BEE-BEE PHONE - The phone fires BBs from the mouthpiece when someone picks up on the other end.

STALKER PHONE - Rings on a random schedule and plays recorded threats, and describes what you're doing RIGHT NOW.

DICK CHENEY PHONE - Peppers your face with bird shot when you speak into it.

 

I do that too.

My roommates and I have been getting a lot of strange calls from Collection Agencies, Lawyers and "the MAN." The calls are all for some guy who owned the number before us. We've called the phone provider and they can only offer a new number or a blocking service. The new number isn't worth it, we're only here for another 2 months.

The amount of threatening phone calls we get for this guy is amazing. I've had a guy call repeatedly every-morning for 2 weeks straight and leave threatening messages on my anwsering machine for the mysterious "Michael." I finally had the guts to call him and tell him he had been calling the wrong number... he told me I had to put Michael on the phone and I of course was saying "you've got the wrong number."
We had this lovely conversation several more times, until I threatened to call the police, although I ended up calling my firefighter landlord and gave him the creep's number.

Yeah, this whole thing has made me really weary of phones and using phones.

 

I'm a afraid of the phone too..its so bad.. i can't even call docs to make appts..I gotta get someone to do it for me..

I have slurred speech and I'm always afraid someone won't understand me.

 

Im always scared of fumbling the conversation when the person picks up their phone. Specially when I know their parent is going to pick up the phone.
I always practice before I dial, have a rehearsal. I say "Hi, is so and so there?"
My friends laugh at me =(