A photo unrelated to the article's content [123rf]
A photo unrelated to the article's content [123rf]

The phone greeting "hello" is disappearing among Generation Z, those born from the late 1990s to the early 2010s. With caller ID now a standard feature on smartphones, a new phone etiquette has taken hold in which people skip greetings altogether and jump straight to the point.

The New York Times reported on Saturday (local time) that "Gen Z does not use the greeting 'hello,'" adding that a variety of customized phone-answering styles have emerged instead.

Abigail Sharon, 21, told the Times that when a close friend calls, she says "Bello" and then launches into a conversation in the voice style from the animated show "Minions."

Some people say nothing at all when answering calls from unknown numbers. Sophia Perez, 22, told the Times that when an unfamiliar number calls, she picks up and "says nothing, waiting for the other person to speak first." The habit developed after she heard that spam bots can record a person's voice and use it for fraud.

The Times pointed to smartphones' caller ID function as the reason behind the shift in phone greetings. Phones today display not just a caller's name but also a photo, avatar or nickname. Since people already know who is calling before they even pick up, there is no longer a need to ask "hello?" to confirm the caller's identity, as was once common.

Griffin Bassett, a linguist who studies digital communication, said smartphones link together information about a caller across phone calls, text messages, emails and social media. There is no need to build "common ground" with a greeting anymore, he explained.

A general aversion to phone calls is another hallmark of Generation Z. Teenagers interviewed by the Times said they use voice messages more often than they call friends. Marie Penny, 17, said sending a voice message is faster than typing out a long story in a text. Other teens said they, too, launch straight into conversation without any greeting.

The shift is also tied to a broader trend of people simply talking less. Researchers at the University of Missouri-Kansas City analyzed 14 years of recorded conversations involving more than 2,000 people ages 10 to 94. They found that the average number of words people spoke per day fell from about 16,000 in 2007 to fewer than 13,000 in 2019. The decline was especially pronounced among those under 25.

Experts warn that the decline in conversation may amount to more than just a change in speech habits. Valeria Piper, associate professor of psychology and counseling at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a co-author of the research, said, "Talking less means spending less time engaging with other people. As conversation decreases, we may lose not only the immediate emotional benefits of social interaction but also the long-term benefits of maintaining solid relationships."


bbo@heraldcorp.com