Why We No Longer Answer The Telephone

The telephone, as it has come to function in the twenty-first century, is no longer a device for conversation. It is a device for interruption, marketed in the language of conversation. The distinction is not semantic. It is structural.

As of the first of the year, we no longer answer the telephone. We read plaintext inquiries on the third Tuesday of each calendar month, in chronological order, by hand, aloud, in a single sitting. We reply when moved to.

The email address listed on our Contact page is monitored by a human being who takes their work seriously. The response time is measured in weeks and not in minutes. This is intentional.

If your inquiry is urgent, reconsider whether it is, in fact, urgent. If the answer remains yes — write slowly, write well, and trust that we will read.