Generational habits have always shaped how people connect, but the shift from phone calls to texting is especially stark. For Monica O’Brien, a communications scholar based in southwest Florida, the contrast has become part of her research and her daily life.

“For Gen Xers, using the phone was a privilege,” she said. “Every kid dreamed of having a phone in their bedroom. I probably had a hundred numbers memorized, and now I can’t remember anyone’s.”

O’Brien recalls her father being strict about phone use, a reminder that in the 1970s and ’80s, making a call was not just convenience but standard. Today, she sees that context missing from her younger coworkers’ experiences.

“A lot of them feel anxiety about answering the phone on the sales floor,” she said. “They just never had to learn t

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