This is a solution very dependent on individual preferences, though, it is not any kind of blanket solution.

I once called my brother from a phone that was not mine, in the middle of the night, to inform him that our brother had died suddenly. He did not answer. He got that message in the morning when he checked his voicemail after waking up. He was very upset at the delay.

Filtering from unknown numbers is a hack, and it has consequences. We should not have to do it just to get some peace from our phones.

> I once called my brother from a phone that was not mine, in the middle of the night, to inform him that our brother had died suddenly. He did not answer. He got that message in the morning when he checked his voicemail after waking up. He was very upset at the delay.

Well, sometimes shit happen. I can think of a handful of scenarios where I cannot be contacted and it’s right that sometimes it could be important. But I am not living on alert 24/7 because sometimes someone might die. My filtering system lets the second call through, which I think works fine as most spammers do not call twice within one minute. That said, in the middle of the night I still probably would not hear, but not because of that.

(I am sure that the situation was complex and difficult to manage enough for you to have to borrow a phone, and I do not envy you for having gone through it and am sorry you had to. In that situation I would be very upset regardless of the delay).

> Filtering from unknown numbers is a hack, and it has consequences. We should not have to do it just to get some peace from our phones.

That’s entirely right and I agree completely. But then we are where we are and the world often disagrees with me. Otherwise I could also get rid of my ads and trackers blockers.

How is it solved for someone who has to have phone calls? Since when saying "it's not a problem for me" solved any problems?

If you are being paid to answer your phone, then answer your phone. I’m not, so I don’t.

Or if you're waiting for a call from _____

Then I add an exception for ______. If they cannot tell you their number (happens with some companies), then they can:

- arrange a call, which is great because then I am guaranteed to have the time to deal with the topic, I do that sometimes with my bank;

- leave a voice mail, which is not great but then I am not responsible for their phone number policy (nobody leaves voice mail anymore);

- send an email (or a SMS, a WhatsApp, FB Messenger, Skype, whatever, I am not picky), possibly to arrange a phone call, also great because I can answer written messages on my own terms and not when they feel like calling me;

- (most of the time these days) have a chat over whatever IM platform they integrated into their website.

My time is not theirs to use however they want. If they want me to be on call, that’s fine, but with compensation.

Exactly!