All calls go to voice mail so I do not miss a prayer chain call but I pick up when I am home.

I consider caller ID essential. I do not answer any one I do not recognize, nor do I answer any number I don't know. If it is important, they can leave a message and I may or may not call back. My choice. It seems to me it would not be hard for the various phone providers to be able to detect and kill large numbers of calls originating from some source if they chose to. Apparently, they do not choose to do that. So many of them are massive robo calls. Maybe we need to get our legislators working on it. If a source has a valid reason to make that many calls, they could apply for a permit to do so!

I silence unknown callers. My phone is quiet.

We are essential
 

I personally think being available to loved ones, people in need, a faith community, or a neighbor in trouble is very important. I also believe that incessant calling is a form of harassment that invades our home and peace. We should be able to have our phones on without fear of harassment. I registered on a Do Not Call List, have an unlisted number, and would like to see violators of my privacy fined for each offense. We are all essential to our families and communities.

I didn't get a phone call but I got an email that said they were "checking in". It threw me off so... I replied back with "???!!" Dear ol' Susan Owens replied and said she needed a gift card for a niece who lost her parents yada yada and would pay me Friday. My reply was "Call me at 972 424 **78, and ask for the chief of police. I happened to give Susan the phone number to the police department of my hometown. :)

If you have an iPhone, try this to silence unknown callers:

Go to Settings > Phone, then scroll down, tap Silence Unknown Callers, and turn on the feature.

Calls from unknown numbers are silenced and sent to your voicemail, and appear in your recent calls list. The phone will ring when people you know call you.

I feel that "being available" means that I will contact them as soon as possible. I don't take calls when I'm driving, I don't take calls when I'm in a meeting and I don't take calls when I'm having a conversation with someone. I think that most people are adult enough to realize that others aren't available 24/7 to satisfy their needs. Fifteen minutes isn't much to ask to give someone time to return a call, is it?

And as far as what we "should" be able to do, well that's pretty much fantasy. We can't do everything that we should be able to do for our own health, safety and mental well being.

Are these calls going to a cell phone? My cell phone has an option to silence calls from people not in my contact list. It registers that there was the call and the caller can leave a voice mail. I have an iPhone and the option is in my settings.

I agree regarding nomorobo. That service is a god-send! I only have it on my landline phone. Thankfully, I don't get that many prank calls on my cell.

If the service is not free on your landline, consider paying for it. I believe it is a nominal amount ($10/mo) to pay for the peace and quiet.

I find few telemarketers like to talk to my answering machine. People who know me, know to say my name on the machine and I will pick up. I have never had that many calls though. Tartan

I only use a landline with an answering machine and robo callers rarely leave a message, otherwise they hang up.
Yesterday I got a total of 18 calls in 5 hours. 9:33am and just call the first call of the day, a hang up.
I do have a cell that is only used for family, farm business and it is not used all the time.
I am running a working 160-acre farm alone and rely on my landline machine to get messages while outside.

NJ Quilter, I will go back to the nomorobo site to see if their service for pay include the TDS company. Their free service would not except my TDS number.