It’s starting. The “buy-polar” craziness of the holidays. One minute we run up against an Ebenezer Scrooge, the next minute a Bob Cratchit crosses our path.
The culmination of an entire year gets stuffed into a single month, punctuated with decorating, shopping, visiting and stressing, and each year we get through it somehow. During all of this merry upheaval, we need to remember what the season does best — it fosters human contact.
Holiday reach
It probably comes as no surprise that over 3 billion mobile phone calls are made in the United States on any given day.1 How does each holiday stack up? Well, Mother’s Day tops the stats for phone calls, with a call volume rise of 11.3 percent in the U.S.2 (eighteenth in the world) and 72 percent longer phone calls, on average. In fact, Mother’s Day seems to be the holiday winner, edging out even Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Father’s Day has it’s own claim to fame for holiday calling. It’s the one day of the year when the most collect calls are made.3 Poor Dad. If only he knew about making free calls with Voxox! Perhaps someday, collect calls will be a thing of the past. (Here’s a call to action that might benefit everyone: Get Dad on Voxox and free up more money for gifts!)
But what about the big dance? Christmas is no slacker in overall call volume. In fact, you can even fill out an online form and have Santa phone your children!4 Tell Santa their names, genders, pets’ names, and let the big guy know what good things they’ve done this year to personalize the call.
Social media provides numerous options for connecting over the holidays, although phone calls are still the preferred method. Telecommunications research found that just 26 percent of those polled are planning to use social networks, such as Facebook or Twitter, to communicate their festive messages on Christmas Day. Fifty-five percent say they will send texts. In contrast, 62 percent of those polled are planning to make a phone call for holiday well-wishing.5 Phone calls are the clear winner for contacting loved ones at Christmas.
Reach out for free
How much money is spent on holiday calls each year? Statistical data varies, but if you’re calling Voxox-to-Voxox, the amount you’re spending will be zero! Make free calls and send free texts in-network, all the time. If your dad is anything like mine, he’ll be downloading Voxox before you finish reading this sentence!
If your family is overseas, there’s no reason not to call this holiday season. With Voxox’s super-low international rates and monthly $1 topping off credit*, your calls to foreign lands are either free or just pennies.
Use your smartphone to spread the cheer
According to The Telegraph, an industry spokesperson said: “… we have seen an exponential increase in [smartphone] data usage over the past two years, with growth of over 250% recorded in urban areas. However, it’s always interesting to see that when it comes to family time over the Christmas season – [people] are logging off and reverting to more personal methods of spreading the festive cheer.”
The study also found that the most popular topics of conversation on Christmas day will be well-wishing, discussing presents and making plans for New Year’s Eve. I’m sure family gossip is in there somewhere as well.
Reach out with Voxox
No matter how you decide to reach out to your loved ones, the point is to reach out this holiday season. And free calls with Voxox give you the flexibility and savings you need to keep your sanity, regardless of the Scrooges.
*Promotion ended as of SEPTEMBER 10, 2015. Please click this link for details**
1. Chacha.com
2. Reuters.com, Mother's Day sees highest call volumes of year
3. http://www.snopes.com/holidays/fathersday/collect.asp
4. http://www.eastchester.org/departments/recreation/docs/
santa_holiday_calling_flyer_2014.pdf
5. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8970670/Record-number-of-calls-expected-on-Christmas.html
6. Ibid.
