Responding To A Text With A Phone Call

Take Some Circumstances Into Consideration
SITREP
I LOVE this discussion! I AM, like most people, when receiving texts, responding with texts. If situations are pretty static, non-​urgent, than it makes sense to do «text-​for-​text». However…
PASSIVE-​AGGRESSIVE
* Most obvious scenario I don’t like is if an individual texts me (or FB message me or Unilocal message or compliment me) that they want me to CALL THEM back right away.
The problem is, often a text audible alert is not as loud or long as a phone call. So if you DO want me to call you back, then CALL ME first but you increase your chances of connecting to me.
So don’t expect me to ESCALATE the communication level of interactivity. [There is an exception noted below with 911 in the next section.]
URGENCY
* There are the scenarios where I am calling you back in response to your original text, but the info is not static & needs/​evolves very quickly and depends upon /​requires both parties to quickly interact (maybe one party only has 30 seconds to communicate, and the situation is critical) and an have an interplay to jointly assess a situation to which you each only have specific pieces to the puzzle to see a «bigger picture». To Wit:
ME: «The tornado is coming! Can you pick me up?
ANNA: «I’ll be there in 5 minutes!
ME: «I have 3 neighbors with me!»
ANNA: «I only have my 2-​seater! They’ll have to DIE!»…oh wait, wait… I can grab my brother’s SUV since it’s here…
ME: «That’s good, we’ll be waiting outside by the duck pond.»
ANNA: «Duck pond! Where the hell are you?»
ME: «Oh oh, sorry. We’re at the neighbor’s house at the bottom of the hill at the corner of Righteous & Glory.»
ANNA: «Christ Jesus. I’ll see you soon.»
[On a related, more extreme example, we’ll never see texting substitute entirely for phone calls for 911.
But I can foresee situations where a texting 911 supplement would be beneficial since calls can always drop or never connect, whereas a text will wait in its «queue» and sneak out even with just a second of connection.]
OLD PEOPLE
They honestly may not have grasp of technology, some never will. And the difference between expecting my arthritic auntie to push 9 digits when compared to texting a 100 or 1000 (or more) characters over course of many minutes, could seriously impact her. [So I call.]
LITTLE KIDS
I may text the phone of a relative, and then I see «their» escalation to an incoming call — I won’t ignore it because I may miss the chance to chat with a niece.
And along those lines, a call out of the blue may be from that niece. For some children who can’t even spell yet, but they know the 9 numbers to call their Uncle Mikey, calling is the only way they’ll connect to me via long distances, (which is why their mom often has them do the calling). [So I call.]
BLIND PEOPLE
Sure, we have voice activation texting capabilities. But really, people– why do we need to make things more complicated then they are already are? The person is blind for god’s sake. If they wish, show common courtesy and have a voice-​conversation that doesn’t sound like SIRI. [So I call.]
TRYING TO DEFUSE PEOPLE
I have found in MY personal experience that with issues of angst, texting can be the worst way to communicate — that is a recipe for miscommunication & disaster because of the constant misunderstanding (you don’t hear their voice tone, and accidental mis-​texting could occur in the fury or despair of the moments, only aggravating the situation. [So I call.]
GOOD REASONS TO TEXT
However, having said the above, it we are talking about information not extremely urgent, but still important, than text will be more preferable:
(1) Address of the place I need to go — If I don’t have anything to write with, please text it.
(2) I text you for the names of the people you asked me to put on the club guest — Don’t call. You have 10 people who want to get into a gig I’m helping promote, TEXT me their names that match their DL. I admit, I don’t have the memory, and usuall time to listen over the phone.
(3) The 5 kinds of toppings you want on the pizza (I’m not going to remember them otherwise.
(4) Anything piece of information that is important enough to be recorded /​archived ($ amount that needs to paid to me — or to you, etc.)
FINAL THOUGHT
Maybe it’s a generational thing, maybe it’s cowardly avoidance thing (I think it’s both personally), but if you are the kind of person who tries to relegate your personal communication to impersonal texting when there are serious issues to discuss about safety, about a job situation, about children, about a relationship, etc., you are not the kind of person on balance that I will interact with.
THE LOWDOWN
When needed & necessary, I prefer the phone call to make sure there is no misunderstanding. But if you are providing metrics to me, then that’s situation to text them back to me.
[Survey Question: «Good for Kids?» NO

Unacceptable.
Total crap.
Deal breaker.
Unless I send you a text that says, «Emergency, call me», there are exactly zero reasons in the universe that calling is an appropriate response to a text. Also, I wouldn’t text «911! Emergency» anyway, because if it was really to that point, I wouldn’t be able to text at all, like if I was strapped down to a gurney in an ambulance.
Wait, actually that’s happened twice and I still managed to fiddle with my phone.
Calling me and not leaving a message? No call back.
Calling me and leaving a message? You’re getting a text back.
Calling me repeatedly? No call back ever, have a nice life.
Filthy lie texts to try and get me to call you? Not gonna happen. I can sense your sneaky tricks. JUST TEXT ME, GODDAMNIT. You will get a response immediately.
Related: if you know I’m up in da club trying to get my twerk on and call me? Friendship over. In the wise words of Beyonce, «SHOULDA LEFT MY PHONE AT HOME CUZ THIS IS A DISASTER!»
Never call me ever, thanks. I only maintain the minimum number of minutes required by my cell provider in case my mother calls with an actual emergency.
Good day.

You might be under the mistaken impression that this is a «phone». I know it looks like a phone, it sounds like a phone but this is actually what it is:
–a camera
–a source to settle the argument about that one thing we couldn’t rememeber so we had to Google it and dammit we were both wrong
–YouTube/​Netflix/​Hulu
–Music
–Facebook on the Go
–texting
— anything else that prevent me from interacting directly with humanity
It is not for the following:
— calling people
— receiving calls
I SAID GOOD DAY
And GET OFF MY LAWN.

Phone calls. Something I look upon with dread. What could be accomplished in ~100 characters and 10 seconds now turns into a good 5 minutes of sharing niceties and unnecessary chatter. I’m texting for the sake of brevity, people. Calling after I send one to you will result in either a missed call, or excessive snappiness in the case I do answer.
Most calls happen at times that I’m in line at a store or restaurant, with a group of friends, or when I have my hands full trying to get to my apartment or car. No bueno.
Please feel free to text, but please don’t call unless something is on fire or someone is in the hospital. OK? And don’t get me started on voice mail FFS. Please.