I think it's an advantage of the phone that there are less visual cues, so you can concentrate on auditive cues. A non-geek on the phone is somewhat in the situation of a geek, because he is aware of less non-verbal signals. He will tend to compensate with more auditive signals and clearer indications in the content of what is said. Fewer signals with more significance are easier to see for the geek.

At least that's what I used to think when face o face conversations were still a big problem for me, but phone conversations felt easier.

It seems I have become much less of a geek over the years.

I am utterly afraid of phone calls. I act like it's no problem though.

I just use IM for quick arranging or linking stuff around. Can't understand how people can chitchat on IM with each other for hours. You never now if that last message was supposed to be funny or serious or maybe even ironic? Then you don't know if your conversation partner thought your last message was serious, while you meant it to be funny...and it goes on an on and on... just can't do it.

Don't have any problems with normal conversations and phone calls though.