I agree that players should have options, which ideally includes turning neighborhood stories off completely without mods. So hopefully they'll add that in the future, but I also think the addition of this sort of gameplay is a welcomed change and not a mistake.
I haven't played much since the update, but my Sims haven't gotten any calls from neighbors at all. I had one odd interaction between Sims in my household that seemed like it came with the update, but the interaction was cute and funny.
I don't want an answering machine, because I don't think the data from missed calls is particularly important and would rather the game not keep track of that for a ton of Sims.
