In a recent conversation I had with a middle school friend of mine, they commented that “No one makes phone calls anymore!”

This seemingly absurd statement made me wonder if phone calls were becoming “old-fashioned” just like the idea of a hand-written letter.

But after thinking about this some more, this almost actually makes sense.

With the rise of social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, anyone, in a matter of seconds can know tons of information about the daily activities of anyone they choose to stalk… I mean follow.

But how has this access to information affected our ability to communicate with other people in a conversation on paper, over a phone call or even face-to-face?

In my opinion, using messaging apps allows people to put off making decisions and making contact with others. Having this time inserted between blurbs of questions and comments gives our (and yes, I’m including myself here) racing minds that question everything the opportunity to create unrealistic scenarios and situations that would probably never actually exist in the real world. We think that our crush hasn’t responded because our last snapchat was too dorky or that our question really got under that person’s skin and they’re now forever our worst enemy. In reality none of these situations would ever actually occur.

I, myself, still use the junk out of my phone. While I do admittedly go through my daily snapchat conversations, and take a scroll down my feeds on Instagram and Facebook, I still use my phone for both texting and making calls. It may not be the most visually appealing or captivating thing, but it’s efficient and it gets the job done for me – relaying my questions or information directly to the people I want to share it with. I make calls regularly to my parents and even a good handful of my friends.

Having an actual vocal conversation allows for a person’s true feelings to be seen and heard, and prompts a relatively immediate response to anything that is asked or said. The beauty of these conversations is that you actually hear the person talking to you, eliminating confusion about intent and inflection that comes from text and messaging apps. You also get to hear and observe the silence brought on by their thoughts and their listening to what you have to say.

But that doesn’t change the fact that taking time to talk to someone is in decline.

We are a generation that constantly seeks out the newest and best looking app, game or whatever noun you want to throw in there, and whether unfortunately or not, phone calls seem to be heading down the path alongside Myspace and cassette tapes into a technological void waiting for the next hipster revival of everything vintage.

There’s nothing like the feeling you get when someone you know takes time out of their day to have a personal conversation with you. Before we get lost in the routines of social media and messaging, let’s remember the beauty and art of true conversation.