Part 7/10:
This shift has prompted reflection on how societal norms surrounding communication have evolved. During earlier decades, children learned to make phone calls as a basic part of adulthood — ordering pizza, making appointments, or interviewing for jobs. Now, that core skill seems to be diminishing among young adults, partly due to overexposure to digital communication that de-emphasizes the voice.
One contributor nostalgically recalls intercoms in older homes, a quaint relic of bygone days, suggesting that more direct audio interactions were once commonplace. Today, many young people lack even basic experience with initiating conversations over the phone, partly because they’ve grown up in an environment that discourages or outright avoids it.