Is Talk Too Cheap?

Over the past few months, all the major wireless carriers – Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile – have rolled out new, typically contract-less, pricing plans that simplify and streamline their offerings. You can see at a glance exactly what you’re buying and how much you’re paying for it.

And do you know what’s become abundantly clear? How little we value talking to each other anymore. You want to add data to your monthly allotment? Plan to ante up another $20 or so for every couple of gigabytes. But picking up the phone? That’s unlimited.

Why? Because we’ve stopped talking. Or, if not stopped, at least slowed the number of times we pick up the phone each day. Think about the last time you left a voicemail for someone. Did they actually check it? Did they call you back?

Millennials are particularly clear about this. (As the mother of two of them, I’ve been told by one not to leave voicemails, but to text her to call me back instead. The other chose not to even set up his voicemail to begin with.)  But they’re not the only ones. In an essay in the Harvard Business Review, Michael Schrage argued that it’s time for companies to get rid of voicemail. Forbes reported that JP Morgan gave employees that option and reaped $3 million in savings as a result.

I’ve got a problem with this. In my work as a reporter, I know that the best way to conduct an interview is in person, where you can observe your subject’s body language and comfort level. The phone is a close second. There’s a lot you can learn from the pauses between sentences, the modulation, the tone. Plus, on the phone, you can immediately ask your follow-up questions. Going back and forth via email, you can spend hours, if not days, clarifying the same information you could immediately clear up with a little straight talk.

For the last decade, I’ve hired young reporters – generally right out of college – to help me with my research. I used to make my decisions based largely on previously published pieces. These days I find myself asking more about their reporting process than ever before. One terrific writer told me she reports by “sending out a HARO” to elicit quotes from experts. “A what?” I asked.  HARO, it seems, stands for Help A Reporter Out. You fill out a form that explains what kind of information you’re looking for and what kind of sources you’d like to hear from, and helpareporter.com – which bills itself as place for “free pr” – makes connections. (I didn’t hire her. Even the reporters I have hired spent the first few months adjusting to the fact that I expected them to talk to people.)

In part, the problem is that many millennials don’t want to disturb people – whether they’re peers or people in power positions – and a call, unlike a text, instant message or email, is seen as a disruption. It’s too personal. In part, the issue is that many just aren’t comfortable talking on the phone. Just like some older people (me included) have trouble mastering new technologies (hello, Snapchat), younger ones have trouble with the older ones.

I can’t be alone in my belief that there are some things that would get done at work both better and faster if more people just picked up the phone. So please, weigh in. If you’ve found a solution to this issue, I’d love to hear it.  And if you’d just like to debate it, you know what to do. Call me.