We text now, stop calling me.

The only time I've answered an unknown number in the last decade plus is when I was applying for jobs. Everything else goes to voicemail.

Voicemail is dead too. It just gets filled with a hundred 1 seconds hangups from spam calls being sent straight to it. Every legit person and business will either show up on your ID, sent an appointment text, or an email.

Googling just gives pages and pages of SEO crap and scams. Any actual decent site to look up a number on?

It used to give good info, maybe 10 years ago. And remember when everyone's number was in the phone book? Why isn't there an online version of that anymore? Not this "buy now" scam stuff.
I believe Google and others purposely broke searching by a phone number. Many years ago I was able to even search by email. I don't think it is SEO, but after they blocked it, SEO is the only thing that remained.

At work we are required to call customers with a non trackable phone number. So everytime we call someone, it only shows "unnknown number". I don't get it how most people would answer that. I would never do that.

I don't, 'google screen' answers it and transcribes the call. Funnily enough I've not had a single call transcribed. So that's a search and block/report.
- Community Blood Center. The very polite vampires are the only ones who put up with Google screen for me. They really like my blood.
The hospital recently started calling with hidden numbers. So now im back to picking up those calls again because those are calls I can't really miss.
- Why would the hospital do that? Don't they realize nobody answers calls that can't be identified?

I can't stop thinking about that keyboard. What is it?

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/27vkcg/keyboard_spotting_i_was_just_watching_men_in/

Call me cynical but if someone doesn't send a message after trying to call it's either because it's not important or because they want you on the line so they can do 'objection handling' to you.

This applies to people you actually know as well as sales people.

Me answering a call because it's way faster and convenient than only texting like a nervous, terminally online teenager who is trying to stigmatize using a phone to make phone calls: 🥱

This post is about spam calls, which you'll only get more of if you answer them.
- "we text now, stop calling me". Very clear OPs opinion on calling in general.
- nowhere in the OP is there anything about spam calls. the comments just started going that way but this post just reminds me of socially awkward flakes

Me not even Googling it because every number is fake anyway.

Funnily enough, I was returning a call the other day from an 800 number I was mostly expecting that lead to a Philippine call center and thought "If it was a scammer it'd just be pretending to be America"
Even ending up being legitimate. Wild times. Effective government, yay.

I'd prefer to talk on the phone, you get through way more like that

I'm guessing the mass here is from USA. People from EU, where regulations work better, what's your opinion on this?

from the various comments it looks pretty much the same. I have two numbers UK, and PL, and I get spam calls on both of them. It's gotten to a point where if I don't recognise a number and don't specifically wait for a call from somewhere I just ignore it
I'm from France, there's actually a law to force telemarketers to use certain phone ranges, which I've blocked.
During some periods, I have a call blocked per day, sometimes more, then nothing for a while.
I sometimes have the odd phone call that passes through, but unless I know I'm expecting a call, or it is from a number I know, I never pick up. It's usually spam anyway
Poland here. I really get spam calls, once a week or less. My phone flags unwanted calls as spam so I don't pick up. If I miss a call from an unknown number, then I Google it. I almost never get to talk to a spam call.
- Scamers put effort into learning Polish and you didn't even hear them out? Harsh.
German here, I also google unknown phone numbers first if they are mobile phone numbers. My business phone number is in the imprint of every website I make due to legal reasons, so I receive around 1-2 spam calls per week.
I'm from the EU. I do the same. I hate getting calls. It forces me to drop everything I'm doing and suddenly switch contexts, which I absolutely hate. So I usually don't answer unless I expect the call or know the number. If it's important they can enter a voicemail or preferably send a message, either of which doesn't require an immediate response and is therefore a lot less annoying.

Imagine having your desk at work setup like this. Who the hell puts the monitor off to the side like that? My neck would kill me after 5 mins

I could see it happening if your job primarily involves talking to people sat on the other side of the desk.
It's for people who always work in front of a film crew so the camera can see their faces

yall been googling phone numbers? i just press the power button once.

It trickier when you're actually expecting a call but you don't know what number they will call from, like a job recruiter.
- Honestly I just screen these calls as well, call them back immediately if they leave a relevant voicemail, and apologize for not picking up as “the spam and scam calls have got so prevalent that I screen literally every call these days.”
  I had a recruiter just today laugh and say “yeah, it’s gotten pretty bad, I do the same thing.” So it’s not like they are going to hold it against you these days.

Nah man, if it's not important enough for a call it must not be that important, if you text me I might not even open the message

Nothing like a good voice conversation, face to face or not

Are spam calls that big of a problem, where you live?

I heard spam calls are rampant in the US. I'm not sure about other countries.