I have a problem I call phone-o-phobia. Quite opposite of what most other people have - an obsession with answering their phones, checking voicemail, text messaging, calling people and talking for hours. I think that I might have accidentally become conditioned (in a Pavlov's dogs sort of way) to hate using my cell phone, and my house phone for that matter. Maybe I received bad news over the phone or got so many unwanted calls that I learned to associate those ill feelings with my phone ringing and me answering it. I always screen my calls and ignore numbers I don't know. When I get a voicemail, I absolutely dread checking it and often wait til I've collected 10 messages over a week or so before I check em all at once. By that time most of those messages are dated and, well, pointless. But I cant help it. I dont like answering my phone. I'm a little more ok with calling people, but not by much. I'm really not ok with long phone conversations. I feel crippled talking without seeing or being seen.

However, I have become hopelessly addicted to computer mediated communication - IM and email. I think it's the fact that I have a choice over what to read, when to read it and have an opportunity to preview what's coming and get a sense for whether it's good, bad, neutral, boring, waste of my time etc. Is anyone else out like this or should I be seeking free counselling at school before the budget cuts take effect.