The generation that’s never had to say ‘Hello?’
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Now that there is rarely any mystery to who is calling, Gen Z has adopted a range of custom phone greetings — including no greeting at all.
ILLUSTRATION: SHIRA INBAR/NYTIMES
Alisha Haridasani Gupta
- Younger generations often skip saying "Hello" when answering calls, using informal greetings or silence due to caller ID and concerns about scams.
- Smartphones and constant digital communication make formal phone greetings less necessary, creating a continuous conversation thread across platforms.
- Studies show younger people speak fewer words daily and use fewer polite expressions, reflecting changing social habits and trust issues with unknown callers.
AI generated
NEW YORK – When Avigail Sharon answers a phone call from one of her closest friends, it is not with “Hello?”
“I always go ‘Bello’,” Sharon, 21, said. “And we’ll talk in Minionese at first.”
