What kind of combination does this create for you?

I have difficulties with phones, and I can't get anyone in my family to understand, aside from my brother who can relate. Of course, these are the same people who think agoraphobia is something I should just "get over"...

With phones: I start to panic when they ring, and I'm expected to answer. I will look at the caller-ID to see if it is someone I know. Even some people I know I'm incredibly uncomfortable talking to OVER A PHONE, but complete strangers??? Oh no, I cannot talk to a complete stranger over the phone. That freaks me out so badly. I start to panic, wondering what kind of face they are making, I start imagining hostility in their voice, then I'll start to stutter which just ruins the entire conversation. I'd rather let the ring finish, and let the answering machine pick up than deal with a stranger. I've told my family many times I'd rather deal with a customer support of some sort that lets me talk to them via email or a chat-type service online. This restricts my life in a lot of ways, and I know logically I should work to get over it, but ... I really don't know how, and those who try to "help" me by forcing me on the phone with people just make it worse.

I H A T E P H O N E S

I never answer them at home. EVER. I let the machine pick up. Remember those?
Yup, not voice mail. I mean a voice recording system that allows me to play your
message back via cassette tape.

I work a desk job. It can get pretty slow sometimes. I'm also in charge of answering
the PHONE. We have caller ID, 8 out of 10 calls is a solicitation. Probably half of those are
scammers trying to switch our long distance. I'd like to say I've gotten used to talking
to strangers, and though the stress has lessened a bit, it still floors me at times.

If I know I have to make a cold call the next day, it makes it very difficult for me to sleep
the previous evening. No matter what I'm doing to distract myself, it still lurks in the back
my mind. It haunts me sometimes.

In the end though, it's never as bad as the anticipation of having to make the call, and I survive.

Done venting.

Simply put, i don't use them. Well, texting is ok, though it hurts my fingers. But i won't answer, ever. And very very rarely will call.

I am force to call strangers on a daily basis for work. But they are expecting the call so its not that bad... but still it gets me into a nervous wreck before i can even manage to dial the numbers..

Used to work for the most miserable place ever.. the Pizza Hut/KFC complaints desk at a call centre - 40hrs a week of people complaining about fast food is enough to turn anyone against phones (and people for that matter).. I don't mind texting but hate calling people/being called.

I used to suffer from this myself until I came to terms with the fact that as long as the person on the other end of the line couldn't see me shaking or sweating while talking, it's all good. I'm not quite sure how to properly express it in words but it feels like there is a sense of anonymity talking on a phone.

i used to have a really hard time talking on the phone, too, but i had to get over it in order to run my household. making doctor and dentist appointments, confirming orders, etc. talking to complete strangers is the worst, and it's still hard for me, but i try to keep in mind that they are total strangers, and i will probably never talk to them again. that's also the excuse i use to cut people off in traffic. j/k

I don't get anxiety from talking on the phone, I just can't concentrate, and I find myself not listening to what the other person has to say. All I can think about is how long it will be until I can hang up. The only person that's never happened with is my boyfriend =)

I really hate talking over the phone. And I used to work as a salesperson, which means I had to cold call every single day. I can somehow relate to your situation. Even with all those 'trainings' I still hate the phone or I should say I hate the phone even more. Most of the time I don't pick up when my friends call. I just don't know what to say to them, especially when they ask me how I am. Sometimes I really want to tell them I feel like s**t everyday, are you happy now? I only answer calls from my mom, cause if I don't, she'll start panicking thinking something bad has happened to me.

I'll often ignore calls from numbers that I do not recognize (doesn't happen often), this has gotten me into trouble a few times. It's actually easier for me to speak to someone in person, because often people aren't very impressive IRL.

Definitely, plus a ringing phone is the equivalent of someone standing in front of you going "TALK TO ME NOW! TALK TO ME NOW! I'LL MAKE NOISE UNTIL YOU TALK TO ME!" which just doesn't happen (much).

I hate phones. I always use a fake accent if I have to use them, just to get a modicum of distance from the situation.

I detest phones, also. I can manage talking to family members well enough, but with everyone else it's hard. Well, maybe I have a friend whose calls I don't mind answering, but a lot of times I get such anxiety that I can't answer the phone. The biggest annoyance are the people who call me at night, as it usually means they are drunk and that I don't want to hear what they have to say, even if it's an emergency.
I very rarely call other people myself, my monthly phone bill is something like 5 euros. Frankly I'm surprised it's that high.
Dear lord I hate phones. For a long time I've dreamt of getting rid of the cursed thing. Perhaps one day...

I'm not sure how many of you have cell phones, but I've yet to get
one. I just can't imagine it would be put to much use. The only reason
I can think of where it would come in handy would be for emergencies.
That's one reason I'm thinking I should cave in and grab one.

Other than that, I have no desire for one.

I only have a cellphone, there's no phone in the apartment, and it's pretty rare that people try to call me. I don't really pick up when they do. Most of the time it's my mother that's calling, but I don't always pick up then. And of course, I don't answer unknown or hidden caller-ids.
With text messages, there's only one person I talk to. And most people stop texting me after a while, because they get tired of me not answering quickly enough, and sometimes just not answering. ._.
And I don't think I've ever called a stranger on the phone, it makes me too nervous. I even have trouble calling my grandparents, when my father tell me to, sometimes it takes me weeks before I finally call them. I really don't like talking on the phone, and I don't really understand when I'm supposed to talk and things like that. So most of the time I just allow whoever it was that called me to talk, and I answer their questions with a yes or a no.

I can relate to much of what has already been said in this thread. Although I do own a cellular phone, I have only used it once, to call my mother to let her know that I would be late home from school due to transport issues. No-one has phoned me, and I just have two numbers in my address book - my parents. I tend to keep my phone off at all times anyway. For me, I keep it for much the same reason that Knots highlighted earlier in the thread - as a means of calling for help in the event of an emergency. On the few occasions that I have been required to talk on the phone (typically with family members), I have struggled. I tended to serve my conversation partner monosyllabic replies, and just let them do the talking, expressing my agreement with what they were saying by dropping in a "yes" every now and then.

In my opinion, verbal communications - especially those made over the grainy, low-fi cellular network, are a very imprecise form of communication, and misunderstandings can very easily arise. This is especially the case when trying to transmit names and addresses - it's often the case that you might have to repeat the name or address several times, even spelling it out in order to achieve an accurate transmission of the data. I wonder how many man hours of work this consumes each year - it could be costing the world thousands of hours of lost productivity! That's why writing is still my favourite form of communication.

This is some pretty awesome advise when you think about it. Granted this won't make anyone pick up a ringing phone. But talking on a phone by not actually having a conversation would help me a ton.
The next time any of you are 'forced' to talk for a phone minutes, give this a try. Let us know how it turned out.

Boy how I relate to phone phobia! I never pick up the phone unless I know who is calling (like family or relative - blessed be caller ID). Otherwise I will check the number on-line, but I never redial them whoever they are (mostly wrong numbers anyway, and some telemarketing guys). No thanks.

I don't feel awkward talking to close family members on the phone, but I get very anxious when I have to talk to anyone else. To the point where I stutter, stammer and am only somewhat intelligible, and I sweat so badly I have to change all my clothes afterwards. I have a long history of calling half the number, then hang up, calling the entire number then hang up and calling the number, get a reply and then hang up in panic.

I always try to get my mother to call in stead. She can somewhat relate, since she hates writing, while I love writing and think written communication is the way to go.

I was secretly jealous of a childhood acquaintance with a case of laryngitis that
had to use post-it notes to communicate with people.

I definitely relate to phone anxiety. I can't answer phones unless it's close family, and even then I'm a nervous wreck. I usually have to get someone else to make doctor appointments for me, haha. Oh well.

Yeah, I too really hate talking on the phone. Actually, I don't like talking to any type of disembodied voice, such as drive-throughs at fast food places... I'd rather just park and go in than have to talk over the intercom.

"Phone anxiety" is the reason why i dont have a job for the practical training that begins next year in connection with the school
Now i have to talk to the director to inform about my situation, there are rumors that tell that students who had to go to the school director never came back again, im so scared D:

I hate talking on phones with an absolute passion, even if I know the person well. Strangers are right out. I blame my old mum for making me ring all my relatives at Christmas when I was a kid, rather than just sending a thank you card .

I got rid of my land line because of the number of cold-calling salesbots I was getting, and because my father was constantly hounding me about stuff (that's another story on it's own). It got to the point where the horrible, relentless sound of the phone was enough to freak me out.

I now point-blank refuse to communicate except by text or email unless under exceptional circumstances. My mobile is permanently on silent, often switched off, and never answered if it's a voice call unless it is one of a very, very, very short list of people, and even then I usually let it go to voicemail and then text them back.

I've even lied that my phone's speaker is broken to justify that .

I don't answer if I don't know who it is.

I don't pick up the phone most of the time at home, I don't have call display for that. For my cell I usually pick it up when it is someone I know, occasionally I'd pick up strangers' calls, but they're mostly telemarketing, usually I don't have any problems with them, as I often don't talk a lot, I space out a lot during conversations and sometimes I don't know how to answer their questions properly, I just remain quiet most of the time, so they usually get annoyed and hang up.

I'm really anxious when I have to make phone calls however, I usually have to plan out what I have to say, and once those lines run out, I panic and I usually just repeat myself until they change their approach, I hate phone calls, there was this one time where I was on the phone with the technician for 40minutes and we just keep repeating the same dialogue and steps over and over, at the end he says he have to hang up, since he thinks there's nothing wrong with their network, and was sure that it's just my computer, I had to use email on dial up to find the proper solution from websites and request them to check again until someone finally helped, verbal communication is terrible.