"Can I call you now?"
An interesting Wall Street Journal study examined the habit some of us have of "asking permission" via text message before making a phone call.
For the younger among us (myself included), it feels right and more polite to call a stranger only after asking their permission over text first.
For the older among us, the whole point of paying for a phone line is so that people can call you — there's no logic in asking permission to use it. The recipient can always mute their phone or simply not answer.
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In my view, a phone call is a poor communication model, because it doesn't allow you to multitask. WhatsApp messaging, on the other hand, isn't going anywhere — it lets us respond whenever it's convenient, and between messages we can switch between many other tasks.
That said, when a back-and-forth text exchange ends up demanding our full attention anyway, it's better to switch to a phone call and wrap things up in far less time.