I've enjoyed reading others' answers on this thread. I think what surprises me the most is just how much so many people hate talking on the phone and love texting. I LOVE talking on the phone. I often talk to my mom on the phone several times a day, sometimes for a few hours and sometimes for two minutes. I don't like phone "dates" or when every conversation has to be a long one. I really just like to hear someone's voice whether we are talking about nothing or something important. In fact, if you are reading this and enjoy off the fly phone conversations, please PM me so that we can exchange numbers. What's funny is that I'm not good at returning calls and may call someone else several times without a call back from them, while at the same time not minding at all if they don't call me back. I like to be very casual about the phone. Sometimes I resist calling friends because I'm worried they will think it's weird that I only have ten minutes and have nothing to say. Truth is, I just enjoy the connection, even if brief. It doesn't feel like the calls I do for work because there are no guidelines or expectations. I have this with a few people, though not many. This paragraph is part sharing and part advertisement for phone buddies
. If you happen to be someone who also connects over the phone, reach out to me. It's always fun to get to know new people from our community. Conversely, if you've been getting calls from me, and that's not your thang, as I'm realizing -gasp, not everyone's like me!- just let me know that too. And then keep in mind that at some point I will probably forget and need to be reminded again.
As far as texting, I am just not very good at it. I feel that I am slow and have difficulty communicating. I will engage in it a little bit and am sometimes cheered by the unexpected text, but in-depth texting is hard for me.
I like email alright but often feel I don't have much time to email. There is, however, nothing like a long email from a friend. The problem is that I'm inconsistent in responding. Still, I can type faster than text, so for real written communication (that isn't a few quick words), I prefer it over texting.
Private messaging is not my favorite form of communication because I'm lazy, and it requires that extra step that email doesn't for written communication. I'd much rather exchange emails and communicate that way. But on the other hand, it's prettier than email (at least my email!) and keeps things on the site, which has its own degree of comfort, so I'm cool with it for communicating with people I don't write with a great deal.
Well, of course this wasn't the question, but methods of communication did come up in the discussion, so forgive my rambling on the topic.
As to the question, I have a lot more phone and this-site communication with people than BB, and BB has a lot more Facebook communication with people. BB also sometimes talks on the phone but definitely not as much as I do. I am equally friends with butches, femmes, straight people, and trans people (or trans femmes / trans butches). I'm sure this description is not phrased right but I think you get the drift.
In person, I like to take walks with people. I think it's a nice way to talk. I also like to have people over to our apartment (if I trust them!) and chat and eat and just hang out. I have a group of BF friends that I get together with maybe twice a year. Life is like that. Much of life is taken up with work and responsibilities of one sort or another, and it's not always easy to fit in person social time in. I have friends from this site who I have not met or even talked on the phone with (you know who you are!) who I feel a deep bond with for years. I feel like if these people lived closer to me, it would be so nice to get together in person as friends. But, because of the nature of the geography of this site, it's just not possible.
There are also people who I may not be close friends with here but respect deeply on this site. They may not even realize how important they are to me, but I read their posts or see how they handle situations, and they end up holding a close place in my heart even if I don't tell them because it might sound weird. Hopefully that doesn't sound too stalkerish
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Anyway, enjoying this discussion and looking forward to more people posting.