Is it rude to call someone without texting first?

The norm shifted, and the disagreement about it usually tracks age. Surveys consistently find younger adults strongly preferring a text before an unexpected call, treating a cold call as an interruption demanding immediate attention, while older adults are more likely to regard a phone call as the warmer and more respectful option. Both readings are internally coherent: a call is higher effort and more personal, and it is also more intrusive because it demands synchronous attention on the caller's schedule rather than the recipient's.

The workable rule separates by content rather than by preference. Text first for anything routine, scheduling, or informational, and for any call likely to take more than a moment. Call directly when something is urgent, when the news is significant enough that hearing a voice matters, when a back-and-forth would take twenty messages, or when tone is doing work that text handles badly. Bad news generally deserves a call. Complex logistics almost always resolve faster by voice.

Two practical additions. Leaving a voicemail is worth doing when the matter is substantive, and worth skipping in favor of a text when it is not, since many people no longer check voicemail promptly. And workplace norms differ enough from personal ones to warrant paying attention to what a specific team does: some organizations treat an unannounced call as normal and others treat it as an emergency signal. When in genuine doubt, a text saying you would like to call and asking when is good costs one message and removes the entire question.