But a normal person could be calling from a doctor's office, a hospital, or your child's school - and not an actual cellphone, and they may not want to text you (or not be allowed to text you) from their personal cellphone, either.

As a parent, the "block all numbers!" approach has always seemed incredibly naive to me.

Same as GP. I silence unknown callers, and unknown text messages. They can leave a voicemail, and I might check it at some point. I check unknown texts a little more often, but they don't interrupt me with an alert which is the important thing.

No police/fire/hospital emergency outcome is going to hinge upon someone else answering a phone call or text messsage.