The death of ‘hello’: how gen Z
If you’re called by an unidentified number, the advice is to remain silent until you’re sure there’s a human being on the line. Is this the end of an era?
TL;DR
- The word 'hello' appeared in print a couple of hundred years ago, evolving from older English attention-grabbing noises.
- Thomas Edison standardized 'hello' as a telephone greeting, finding time-based salutations redundant with the invention of the telephone.
- Modern technology like caller ID and evolving communication habits among younger generations are leading to the decline of 'hello'.
- Gen Z reportedly prefers greetings like 'Hi,' 'What's up?', or 'Yeah?', with some even answering the phone without any greeting.
- The rise of AI voice scams, which can clone voices from telephone greetings, has led to advice to remain silent when answering unknown numbers, potentially accelerating the obsolescence of 'hello'.
- The nature of modern conversations, spread across various formats like texting and DMing, may make formal greetings seem unnecessary.