It might terrify Gen Z, but the humble phone call is a wonderful thing

August 13, 2026 — 12:42pm

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Let me describe what a nightmare scenario looks like for many workers, certainly for those under 45. You’re sitting at your desk with your mobile phone next to you. You’ve been scrolling on it at various times throughout the day when suddenly it starts vibrating loudly.

You freeze. It’s a phone call. From your manager! Oh no, you catastrophise, something serious must have happened.

Such a call might be just an innocent check-in, but many people now use their phones for everything except speaking to each other, and baulk at the idea of it ever ringing. Picking up the phone to sort out issues directly with colleagues and clients has fallen far down the list of preferred ways to communicate.

When we want to get a message across, we can choose between face-to-face, video conferencing, phone calls, email, text messages, team chat or private messaging. Yet, we tend to default to three........

© The Sydney Morning Herald