There was a good decade or so where at least 1 person in my immediate family/friend circle was in some kind of health crisis. My ringer's volume was on max at all times. Just in case. And those occasions did happen, too.
I recognize it depends entirely on your circle and circumstances, but in my case, no one calls me just to chat. It's always for something immediate or serious. And while I carry my phone with me, I limit my screentime so I'm not actually looking at it all the time, so I need some kind of way to know when someone's calling. I can't imagine having it any other way with aging parents, kids, etc.
It sounds like you buckled to your anxiety and trauma rather than setting boundaries. You shouldn't judge others because you can't handle your own shit.
As another elder millennial, for me I have call sounds on because I almost never get calls unless it's something important. My siblings and friends SMS, or message me through some chat apps. I have SMS on soundless notifications, chats on no notifications (because I check the apps when it makes sense to), and as said I have phone calls set to do the ringtone thing. If I suddenly started to often get calls I would probably set it to vibrate. I aggressively disallow notifications from apps in general, I really hate my phone making noises and notifications without damn good reason because that's too disruptive to me.
My Android has "modes" that I can set with specific settings depending on where I am. I live alone, so at home, my phone automatically turns my ringtone on. At work and at certain other places, it's automatically set to vibrate only. I love not having to think about changing the ring setting everytime I go somewhere
When I finally switched to a smartphone I was going to go insane from having to put my PIN in every time and that's what drove me to discover modes, I have so many of them now. I feel like they are overlooked as a feature.
Mute the texts, block the spam, and let everything ring through. I'm on call all the time, but my wife can't be bothered to turn on her ringer. I call her like, once a year, and she doesn't answer. Rage.
Apps, however, get virtually zero privileges, for both notifications and audio. If you send me a video to watch on my phone then that thing better have subtitles or closed captioning or whatever folks are calling it because the volume is staying at 0.
Yeah, my phone has the "Ring Ring Ring, Ring Ring Ring, Phone Call, Phone Call!" From Pokemon's like... 3rd episode. I didn't go through the hassle of finding it ripped from the episode but without the background music just to turn it off.
This sentiment is one I've only heard about online. In the real world every millennial I know or interact with on a daily basis has one. The elder Gen Z on the other hand.
I think it has to do with being liiterally attached to phones. Most people I know take there phone out of their pocket and set it down (desk, table, counter, ...) and go about their day but if iit never leaves your hand or pocket (and you're afraid to answer it anyway) you don't need a ringer.
I keep my ringer on but the volume at the lowest setting and I wonder if that might be indicative of generational differences, too. Like you said, I frequently put my phone down somewhere but it’s also almost never not in the same room as me, so while I need to hear it it doesn’t have to be particularly loud. My baby boomer mother treats her cell phone kind of like a landline, it’s got a designated spot in the house so she usually has it on the loudest setting because she might need to hear it from several rooms over
I won't lie my ringer is on the higher end but I'm hard of hearing, so it has to be. I also make sure dnd is on 10p-7a every single day so as not to disturb others.
Mine is on. I have it on for family emergencies and for my kids school to reach me. I also put my phone down and get pulled into 45 directions then forget where I put it.
yeah, mine is not on silent, 'cause the calls I get are either my mum or something actually important. I don't get spam calls and also I've set my notifications so that only very few and chosen apps notify. And as for "why not on vibrate"... somehow I find the sound of a vibrating phone even more grating!
The only time I could see turning it to silent is my work phone when I was working a job I dreaded. That shit gave me PTSD every time I heard it. After a week, I turned it off the instant I logged out from work.
Like, if I knew someone who contacts me and I dread talking to them, I either set up a joke ringtone for them or I individually set their notification to silent. Do people know they can do that?
Yeah, I've got custom ring tones I made myself lmao
That way, I can instantly tell who's calling me without having to get my phone. I can recognize the ringtone faster than it shows up on my watch too - which, that means I don't have to look at that either
Generally, people I know IRL know how much I LOATHE talking on the phone, so they don't call me unless it's important. If I get the default tone, then I know to be wary (scam)
For the record, I do have it scheduled to DND when I'm at work, so I'm not a total menace lol
I thought I was alone after scrolling through all the comments before yours lol. Mine is always on. My kids constantly bug me about it when it interrupts the music in CarPlay hahahah. I still have songs I love as my ringtone and another piece of a song as a text tone.
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u/dk_peace Aug 14 '26
Well you havent met me