Why put such a negative spin on the desire to leave a message instead of reaching somebody when you call on the phone?

There's a device — Slydial – that takes you straight to voicemail:

... lets callers ... avoid an unwanted conversation — or unwanted intimacy...

.... We are constantly just missing one another — on purpose.

... turning some people into digital-era solipsists more interested in broadcasting information than in real time give-and-take.

... “You pretend to be communicating, when you’re actually stifling communication" ....

[Some guy] said he had ... used it to call in sick to work — without facing follow-up questions from his boss....

He acknowledges that the technology encourages a perhaps not-so-valiant character trait.

“It does make you more cowardly,” he said.

Wow. What about all the positive reasons for not wanting to make someone's phone ring? They might be sleeping, with someone, or concentrating on work. I often hesitate to make phone calls, not for selfish reasons, but out of consideration for others. You have no idea what they are doing. In fact, why did it ever become acceptable to cause a bell to ring that required somebody to drop what they are doing and talk to somebody who unilaterally decided it was time to talk? It had to have been an adjustment to phone technology as it was. If it is no longer necessary to behave that way, why is it still thought to be polite? At the very least, calling specifically to leave a voice message should be regarded as fine etiquette. Stigmatizing it as solipsistic and cowardly is ridiculous.