INTPs RE: the Telephone

[Sandy]

Howdy folks! I just found out that my youngest son (20) is an INTP! My sweetheart is an INTP as well. It has just occured to me that both of these good men react roughly the same way on the phone: they both lose interest and want to get off the phone after about 15 minutes.

My youngest stated that he quickly runs out of things to say, and there is a definite change in his voice that tells me that he wants to get off the phone (without actually telling me). My boyfriend states that he gets tired and finds that talking on the phone more than 15 minutes drains him. I can also tell it in his voice that he needs to hang up (even though he doesn't state it - because he is so darn polite).

They both have said that when they are face-to-face with someone, than they can talk for hours and hours, but on the phone, they lose interest quickly.

Your thoughts?

[Metamorphosis]

Originally Posted by Sandy

Howdy folks! I just found out that my youngest son (20) is an INTP! My sweetheart is an INTP as well. It has just occured to me that both of these good men react roughly the same way on the phone: they both lose interest and want to get off the phone after about 15 minutes.

My youngest stated that he quickly runs out of things to say, and there is a definite change in his voice that tells me that he wants to get off the phone (without actually telling me). My boyfriend states that he gets tired and finds that talking on the phone more than 15 minutes drains him. I can also tell it in his voice that he needs to hang up (even though he doesn't state it - because he is so darn polite).

They both have said that when they are face-to-face with someone, than they can talk for hours and hours, but on the phone, they lose interest quickly.

Your thoughts?

I wish my mom had your intuition about phone calls.

[cafe]

The only time my INTP has ever shown any interest in talking on the phone more than a few minutes has been when he was going to school out of state or driving OTR and we didn't see each other often. He will also talk to his mom and sister on the phone for fairly decent periods of time, but they live out of the country and he only talks to them a few times a year and sees them every several years. That may change when the are stateside again in a few months, I don't know.

At our house, we have three INTs, two INFs, and one I can't figure out and if we two INFs did not answer the phone, it wouldn't get answered the vast majority of the time.

[Usehername]

lol

whenever i called home from my gap year in africa my mom wanted to talk about EVERYTHING. now, sure, i had stuff to talk about (went on safari, etc.) but she also wanted to tell me useless information of daily trivialities that i knew would be going on b/c I lived there.

i would be ready to hang up in about 8 minutes and she just wanted to talk and talk and talk.

[Athenian200]

Originally Posted by Sandy

Howdy folks! I just found out that my youngest son (20) is an INTP! My sweetheart is an INTP as well. It has just occured to me that both of these good men react roughly the same way on the phone: they both lose interest and want to get off the phone after about 15 minutes.

My youngest stated that he quickly runs out of things to say, and there is a definite change in his voice that tells me that he wants to get off the phone (without actually telling me). My boyfriend states that he gets tired and finds that talking on the phone more than 15 minutes drains him. I can also tell it in his voice that he needs to hang up (even though he doesn't state it - because he is so darn polite).

They both have said that when they are face-to-face with someone, than they can talk for hours and hours, but on the phone, they lose interest quickly.

Your thoughts?

Well, it does fit with their inferior Fe, and telephone conversations are often rather Fe in nature.

Of course, I'm an INFJ, and exactly the other way around. I feel more drained having to talk to someone in person, and start getting worn out after about an hour or two. But I can talk for five hours or more on the phone, as long as I have water nearby.

[Varelse]

The phone invariably disturbs me, I usually am in the middle of something, and I don't particularly like such a method of communication anyway.

IM is fine-I try to leave such open if I'm on the computer and avaible, though I haven't been doing so well with such lately. IM doesn't demand that I stay on, and allows me more time to respond.

Face-to-face can also be good, though it taxes my response speed.

[Recluse]

I start to feel panicky if I'm on the phone for an extended period of time with my boyfriend. I have to hang up and take a few minutes to calm myself before I'm able to call back and resume our conversation. Fortunately, he's patient with my idiosyncratic behavior, which is caused by anxiety. Possibly some other INTPs experience a similar--if perhaps less intense--reaction, particularly if they're unaccustomed to socializing by phone.

[arborvitae]

That's funny, my INTP boyfriend is similar. He says he just doesn't get a lot out of talking on the phone and doesn't really respond to joking and flirting. We don't talk on the phone beyond what's necessary to make plans. At first I was kinda sensitive to how short he is on the phone, but he's always affectionate and involved in person-to-person contact.

[Sandy]

Thanks for all your responses! I just had a feeling that INTPs shared this little trait.

[LucrativeSid]

Being on the phone for more than 10 minutes is like having your face being sucked into a black hole. I'm not sure why I don't like it, exactly. I don't get uncomfortable, but I do get bored, and I start to feel like I'm tied down.