So Generation Mute doesn’t like phone calls. Good. Who wants to talk, anyway? | Andy Dawson

With millennials increasingly preferring to message, it won't be long before the call becomes a pursuit solely for cranks who like the sound of their own voice

In the opening scene of Channel 4's brilliant new comedy-drama series The End of the F***ing World, lead character and latent rage vessel Alyssa snaps when a friend sends her an instant messages using her smartphone as the pair sit facing each other at a table. Seconds later her phone is lying in pieces on the floor. Alyssa, however, is an anomaly. Verbal communication is on the way out, and nowhere more than on the telephone.

Without us really noticing it, the phone call has been slowly fading out over the past few years, and a new survey by Ofcom shows that only 15% of 16 to 24-year-olds consider it the most important method of communication, compared with 36% who prefer instant messaging.

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