I'm currently getting a visa, if someone involved in the decision making process calls my number I better answer it.

I was interviewing for a job not that long ago, when people get back to me by the phone I better answer it.

When my dentist or doctor calls to schedule an appointment I need to answer it.

If a family member needs to get my attention a phone call works better than text - the ringtone is more noticeable.

Of course I live in Canada and my number isn't scattered everywhere on the web, I don't think I even get a robocall a week on average. But even if I lived in the states, I don't see how I could avoid the first two requiring I answer my phone sometimes, possibly the third as well but at least I'm the client there so I might be able to talk them into an alternative means of contacting me.

All of that said, yes, pollsters do have to do more work to survey younger people. They have recently added cell phones to their call lists, since land line phones are going the way of the dodo.

In New Zealand, I have had periods where spam phone calls have been pretty bad for me. 2 or 3 a day for a week or so, and that was annoying.

But they always seem to stop.

The last spam call I got was long enough ago that it doesn't show up in my iphones call history. Certainly several months ago.

Can't the phone companies look at calls the same way email providers do and use all the information they have at their disposal to filter out the spam?

I had call after call after call from this one number, over about 3 weeks. Eventually, after I was complaining about it to my wife the phone went and it was the same number so I picked up ... it was a domain registrar asking "are you happy, do you need any help", that was it, just a lousy marketing call (probably because I basketed a domain with them and then bought it elsewhere).

What an absolute waste of time.

My phone is in Do Not Disturb mode 100% of the time, with only alarms and priority calls whitelisted, so I know that if a call comes through, it's probably important.

Everyone else can send a message or record a voicemail. I'll call or write back when I feel like it. I have also taken the step of disabling all notifications except for direct messages to me. Those get to pop an icon in the notification bar, but no sound nor vibration alerts. I'll see the message whenever I decide to check my phone.

Ive contemplated changing my number. But I imagine that won’t actually help. Is this just the new reality? Are there any solutions?

Are you referring to this? [0] I was googling because I was interested. Looking at this the data seems fishy. Under total respondents they have answers for the age group, but not under any of the democratic/democratic leaning responses. So it looks like they only interviewed republicans under 50 and both groups 50+. There's some more fishy patterns like that with repubs <$50k.

So it is hard to say if only young republicans answer their phones or the data set is (purposefully?) biased.

[0] http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2019/images/03/19/rel4b.-.2020.pdf

Most of the spam calls are from energy companies selling energy to small businesses, because I'm registered as a business. Maybe I should get a separate phone number that goes straight to voicemail for my CoC registration.

But other than that, our do-not-call regulation seems to be working quite well. Maybe the US should copy it.

I'm in my late 30s, have a cell phone only, which is on the do not call registry. The only times I get harassed are when I update my resume on whatever job site. Then for a few weeks/months I get what I consider too many calls from recruiters.

I wonder if we have different purchase histories or something that has resulted in this very different outcome.

Encouraging non-PSTN calls can have huge privacy implications (e.g. using Facebook for health care provider communications).

But ya; personally, I have a dedicated voicemail number that I hand out when I “must” provide a phone number.

I answer the phone all the time and it's always someone I know. I do not have a caller id display.

Here's how I managed that.

Only 4 people know my real phone number and are under orders not to add it to any digital address book.

My phone number is registered to an alias. I pay for my phone using cash.

My area code is in a city I've never lived in and have no connection to.

I add my number to the do not call list.

For generic phone number requests, such as stores and shipper that demand it, it's always 555-1212.

Of course this method won't work well for people who need to give their phone number out to people they don't know. But then again if that result is simply not to answer the phone ever, why would that be better. And for those who really only ever want to hear from a half dozen or fewer trusted friends and family, this is a solution that works.

I always find it interesting how these almost cease each weekend day. Do scammers' charge more to answer a phone on a weekend?