A GenZ guide to Ditching Telephobia and Ending Blind Consumerism

When Anxiety rings….

As much as the world grumbles about Genz’s addiction to their phones, their anxiety around having actual conversations on the phone is real.

Welcome to another one of the 21st century’s first-world, self-inflcited problems.

Almost 90% of GenZ’s have been reported to have telephobia- a fear or anxiety around making and receiving phone calls.

75% of them claim to never answer phone calls.

So, basically, trying to communicate with this age group could look like:

Hi there, are you available for a quick chat?

Yeah, Im here. Sup.

Great, I was hoping we could talk about what happened last weekend when you left the group.

GenZ:

Humor aside, this is actually a concerning problem and one that is likely to stunt this generation’s growth- socially, professionally and emotionally.

In case you happen to fall into this category and would like to get on the line like a pro, here are a few gentle nudges that can get you there:

Practice talking to yourself. There’s nothing lonely or loserish about doing this. Talking to yourself out loud can help you catch your verbal quirks, smooth out awkward phrasing, and just build a healthy tone of conversation with the person who matters most in this world, aka You.

Swap texts for voice notes. This is super handy for dealing with a legitimate fear around phone calls as they ease you into expressing your thoughts verbally and eventually prepare the brain for handling live conversations.

Call your loved ones. What better way to ease into phone conversations than with people you’re most comfortable with? So stop dodging those calls to your mum or sister and start dialing before they forget what you sound like. Handling a dose or two from family chater can toughen you up for the real workd- where people might not be nearly as kind.

No amount of texting, emojis or perfectly timed memes can make up for genuine human connection, and in all honesty, there are far worse things to fear on this planet than getting on a phone call.

The hidden price tag of what we buy…

If there’s one word to describe how we humans operate in this world, it would probably be ignorance.

We are brainwashed by brands beyond belief, endlessly buying products, blisfully unaware of their impact on the environment, and chasing trends without ever stopping to ask if they make sense.

I didn’t think about any of this myself until I watched Buy Now on Netflix, which was a massive wake-up call and is also where I discovered the incredible Eric Liedtke.

For those of you who haven’t watched the documentary yet (highly recommend starting there first), Eric, Adidas’s former VP of marketing, shares some incredibly eye-opening facts about the true costs of modern-day consumerism.

I immediately felt drawn to diving deeper into this subject with him, and we talked all about the hidden damages of polyester, the environmental impact of fast fashion, and how we can make better choices for ourselves and the planet on a recent episode of my podcast.

In case you missed me last week

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