I didn’t recognize it at the time, but at some point during my twenties my voicemail message bit flipped. As a teenager and university student, I was keen to get voicemail messages. After all, the more voicemail messages you had, the more popular you were, right?
At some unspecified time in the late nineties, I discovered that I wanted less instead of more voicemail. These days, I breath a sign of relief when the perky cell phone woman says “nothing to tell you!” Which, of course, is something to tell me, but never mind. The same goes for the curt Telus lady and her assurance that I have “no unheard messages”.
I feel vaguely the same way about email, but it’s less of burden. I suppose it implies less human interaction.
This feeling is particularly familiar on American Thanksgiving. As Tim Bray, a Canadian, says:
This is the day where those of us around the world who are in the US-centric high tech business, but not Americans, give thanks for the fact that our phones are silent and for the certainty that no major high-tech announcements or initiatives will occur.
I’m confident that tomorrow will be quiet too, as I understand many Yanks are making it a four-day weekend.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
I’m certainly one to give thanks for these past 2 days. How quiet it’s been around here, without said interruptions from our US counterparts calling and emailing.
I’m with you, Darren. I even have a msg on my voicemail that says ppl will get me faster by dropping me an email. I hate the phone these days, which is pretty funny since I work in the industry.
What I think it is, is that email is not intrusive. You can chose to read it right away or not to read it until later. With the phone, if it rings and you’re there, we have this propensity to interrupt what we’re doing to answer the call.