PODCAST:
Jan. 12, 2026 ~ Chris Renwick, Lloyd Jackson, and Jamie Edmonds discuss Gen Z’s “phonophobia” with Maryellen MacDonald, professor of psychology and language sciences. They explore how avoiding conversation impacts social skills and brain function.
A trend emerging among members of Gen Z is a lack of interest, or nervousness, in talking over the phone, relying on text. WJR invited Maryellen MacDonald, professor of psychology and language sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to talk about how this trend could affect the workplace.
“Some Gen Z people feel like texting is safer because you can reread your text and make sure you get it right, and the back-and-forth, in-the-moment pressure seems scary to them,” MacDonald said. “They haven’t had so much practice talking as all of us older folks who hung out all the time and chatted with other people. They were on their phone, they had social isolation from COVID, and all sorts of other things that make something that seems so easy to a lot of us seem hard to them.“
