I once locked my toddler in the car with my phone and car keys on the front seat. I had to use a stranger's cell phone to call my husband - I'm glad he picked up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never answer my phone unless it’s my kids, spouse or sisters: period. Text me or don’t expect a response.

Good luck with that if the caller is a hospital.

Also, you never answer, "period!", if it's the kids' school or activity etc.? Come on, aren't those numbers programmed in your phone and you pick up if you had a call from the school or the sports team contact person or whatever? Wouldn't you know something might be wrong if those kinds of places phoned rather than texting?

To answer a previous poster: I’m Gen Ex

My kids are in college so nope.

I usually pick up bc I have all sorts of legitimate calls from people whose numbers I haven’t stored. Most of the time it’s spam, but a significant amount of legitimate calls. I am a millennial too and I hate phone calls, but it’s really not a huge thing to pick up and see if it’s a spam call or legit. I have no qualms about hanging up within a half second if it’s some spiel.

If it's a number I don't know (and I add a lot to my contacts) I sometimes won't answer at all. But usually I'll answer then wait a few seconds to say Hello. I'm not sitting on the line breathing heavily or anything, but those few seconds usually reveal if it's a real person or a scam call. If it's a person they will usually say Hello then I say Hello and I figure they can chalk the confusion up to cell phone issues. But 90% of the time when I don't say anything, there's nothing on the other end and the call hangs up so it was a scam call.