Nottingham college in the uk is offering a telephobia course to help students with phone call anxiety.
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There wash once a time when picking up a phone call was the main mode of communication, but now with endless choices available
Generation Z – Born Between 1997 and 2012 – Are Struggling with Telephobia, A “Relatively Recent Phenomena” Describing People who Fear Phone Calls, According to Liz BAXTER , A UK-based school for pupils aged 16 to 18 and older.
“Telephobia is a fear or anxiety Around Making and Receiving Telephone Calls,” BAXTER TOLD CNBC Make it in an interview.
“They’ve (Gen Z) Just Simply Not Had The Oportunity for Making and Receiving Telephone Calls. It is not the main function of their phones these days, they can do anything the phone, but we are automatically defaulted, ice notes , And Anything Except Actually Using a Telephone for its original intended purpose, and so people have lost that skill, “She explained.
BAXTER SAID That My Older Pupils are expected to take telephone inters navigating a call.
“In a class of 25 to 30 students, I would imagine at least three -Quarters of them will experience and admit to anxiety about not using the telephone,” She said.
The college’s telephobia seminar is part of a series of career-Related Sessions to Help Bring Pupils’ Phone skills back up to scratch.
The Session Involves Practicing A Series of Scenarios where you have to make a phone call, for example, calling the doctors to make an appointment, calling in sick to work, and another everday SCENARIOS. The pupils are expected to sit back to mimic a regular phone call where they can’t see the person on the other end and practice by using scripts.
BAXTER SAID Attending Just One Session Boosts Pupils’ Confidence because it DemyStifies How Phone Calls Calls Really Work.
She said the risk of telephobia can partly be blamed on the covid-19 pandemic, DURING which young people are if if if it is incredibly islated.
“If they’ve missed out two years’ Women of social interaction and ebb and flow, then that obvious plays into how they’re feeling about being in socia. re feeling uncomfortable. “
‘They think that you’re laughing at them’
Gen Z’S Anxiety Around Responding to Phone Calls Stems from a Fear of the Unknown, According to BAXTER.
“They Associate the ringing phone with Fear,” She said. “I don’t know who’s on the end of it. I don’t know how to deal with it.”
A Uswitch survey of 2,000 UK Adults in 2024 found that almost a Quarter of 18 to 34-YLDs Never Pick Up Phone Calls. Around 61% of the age group prefer to receive a message raather than an audio call.
Over Half of 18-to-24-Eear-Elds Think An out-of-the-BLUE Phone Call means, What 48% Prefer to Communicate Using Social Media, and Over a Third Prefer Voice Messages.
Gen z are also concerned with how they sound on calls as they have no visual feedback to confirm how they’re Doing, BAXTER noted.
“Strangely, a lot of our students are really comfortable on Microsoft Teams accuse them can see the visual cloues. They can read your face. They can judge your reactions. They can see how they’re doing.
“I think that plays into a large part of the anxiety when it comes to audio only calls. They can’t see you. Not gettingting that response back from you in order to assure themselves of how they’re doing. “
‘Take back the power’
Phone calls duan’t have to be scary, BAXTER Said, Emphasizing that there are some easy ways to prepare to take a call if you are expecting one.
“The Great Thing About Phone Calls and Audio Calls, is that you can cheat. Comes to support them to come up with the right answers. “
This starts with preparation your environment, so making sure you’re going to be in a quint safe space, where you’re not interrupted, and your phone is charged and working, bakxter said.
The careers Advisor explained that if the call is for an interview, then researching the organization is helpful.
“So write yourself a little script. Think about what you are going to say. That can help to minimize your anxiety,” She said. This can be aid by written cheat notes, which can remind you of what you want to say.
Finally, the Telephobia Seminar also encourages practicing breathing exercises, if a call makes someone feel anxious or overwhelmed.
“We encourage students to Breathe in Deeply, Hold their Breath, Let it Out Slowly, and then Notice The Resulting Difference in Slowing Your Heartbeat and Making You FEEL MUCH CALMER,” BAXTER MUCH CALMER, “BAXTER SAID.
Young people are accountomed to associating phone calls with Negative Things, but BAT BAT BATHER Teaches Her Pupils that Someone Goods For Calling to Wassing on to Passing on to the NexT Station Station Ve passed their exam.
“So it’s trying to see that actually answer your telephone call should be dangerous, and that they are very much in control … It’s encouraging our students to take l is similaring that I do not want, I have the choice to end the phone call, and that gives me power. “
