Editor's Note: Is anything ailing, torturing, or nagging at you' Are you beset by existential worries' Every Tuesday, James Parker tackles readers' questions. Tell him about your lifelong or in-the-moment problems at dearjames@theatlantic.com. I avoid making and receiving phone calls. I mostly don't answer. I feel trapped when on the phone because it's difficult to extricate myself, and I feel burdened by the calls I must make or should make, whether to friends, doctors, or relatives. To avoid calls, I rely on texting way too much. I worry I'm on the road to isolation or hermetism. What should I do about this phone phobia' Do you remember the days before texting, when everybody would just sit on public transport blaring away on their phone, quite blandly disinhibited, and you had no choice but to listen' To attend to these monologues and mouthings and maimed half-colloquies' What a depressing moment in human affairs: Everybody seemed to be telling a story about how clever/brave/sexy...
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