My French friends and the telephone...

Since I was born and raised in France, and spent more than a quarter of century in that country, I still have many friends over there.

Yet, staying in touch with some of them is a challenge as they never answer their fixed line or their mobile phone. I'm not even talking about email and the rest. Are some of them afraid of the phone (phonophobia) as some fear answering a phone or hearing it ring? Others may perceive the caller as threatening, intimidating or the bearer of bad or upsetting news?

I can't say, but on the other hand, fear of making calls might be caused by concerns of finding the right time to call or the fear of bothering others. In both circumstances, that same fear could originate from anxiety about poor sound quality, misunderstanding, need for repetition, or other awkward, poor communication.

These fears are often linked to the absence of seeing the body language, and individuals fearing to lose control. Then, there are others that are so cheap that they'll never return my calls or simply call me on occasions, to just visit with me? I don't know what their real reasons are, but I find the experience really frustrating.

With apps like Skype and WhatsApp, it's easy and inexpensive to contact people, that it makes me wonder. But again, I wasn't born yesterday and so were my old buddies. We're all vintage folks and have not been raised with cell phones, let alone normal land lines, around us.

I was close to 20 when my parents had their home phone installed, so I'm not even suggesting that calling someone is second-nature. We must do it, because we have to, not because we naturally feel the urge or the sheer pleasure to...