Those of us who grew up on radio remember the admonition "Don't touch that dial!" It was said to keep you listening for the next program.
Now "Don't touch that phone" is an admonition to not answer a robo-call or other unsolicited message. We had started to not answer the phone between 5 and 7 in the evening. We had learned that almost all the calls were unwanted calls. Now we don't answer the phone at all. These calls come at almost all hours of the day. I just had one at 9:30 in the morning!
We wait for the caller to leave a message; if the caller is legitimate, we pick up the phone and apologize for not answering immediately. Almost all these callers are understanding as they suffer the same at home.
