Guys, I’ve started talking on the phone again.

Instead of actively avoiding phone calls and panicking whenever my phone rings, I’ve been picking it up and using it for it’s original intention – having a big ole’ gabfest with my nearest and dearest.

If this makes you shudder a little, I feel you. I stopped making phone calls around the time Facebook and instant messaging become a big part of our lives, and somewhere along the way I’d lost the art of having a good chinwag.

My communication with my friends and family had become reliant on half-finished text conversations and promises of 'long stories' that we never got around to telling.

A few weeks ago a friend called me and we talked for over two hours - TWO WHOLE HOURS of having a chat. We discussed in depth all our anxieties about the state of the world, we shared honest insights into our lives, and we talked about our hopes for the future.

And it was so bloody refreshing.

I felt like I'd had my first real conversation in months. By talking on the phone I was forced to stop doing everything else for that period of time - I just concentrated on my friend and our conversation.

The TV went off, I couldn't listen to podcasts, I wasn't cleaning, washing or scrolling through Instagram - I was just really present in the conversation.

It reminded me of the good ole' days when I would rush home from school and start phoning the friends I'd just spent the whole day with. We'd talk for hours about our day at school, we'd gossip, and we'd laugh at our personal jokes - this is how we connected and built up our strong friendships before text messaging and social media. We were 100 per cent in all our conversations.

A challenge to women: stop the gossip. Post continues...

Since then I've been making an effort to pick up the phone and call my friends - usually after texting: "I'm going to call you, it's not an emergency or a butt dial - DO NOT PANIC".

Obviously everyone in my life is a lot busier these days and we can't spend hours talking on the phone everyday - but one genuine, full-hearted phone conversation can replace hours of half-assed text messages.

So pick up the goddamn phone, you won't regret it.

What do you think? Do you still call your friends?