14 Comments

When i was teaching in a language institute two years ago, i learned to use voice notes to commnicate faster with my teenage students. Now, i use voice notes in Whatsapp to talk about more emotional stuff and also to message faster when i'm doing sth else (for instance, when i'm cooking and listening to podcasts, and sb messages me, i use voice notes. But if i'm relaxing and not in a hurry, i type texts.

P. S.: I'm not American, I'm Iranian.

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author

That sounds like a good approach!

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Yes, it does. Also, i can express my emotions in speaking more than in writing (i can write about my emotional reactions in my diary, but when it comes to typing, it's not that easy).

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Totally agree. I dislike voice notes and would happily manage 99.9% of all my communication by text and email. Surely we cannot be far away from software that will convert a voice note to text on demand?

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Same here, I don't listen to voice messages, or at least try to avoid to as much as possible. My young adult kids don't listen to them either. My phone will transcribe what I say into a text message, that's so much easier for the receiver IMO. My mind wanders too easily to pay attention to a voice message, I'm much better at scanning a text message.

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My iPhone does, but isn’t good at transposing mumbling. The feature is helpful almost, because I can scan the text almost instantly and would delete it, but can’t until the voice recording finishes playing.

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author

Turning a voice note to text would save so much time!

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Feb 16Liked by Nolan Yuma

I was wondering where you were going to take us. Turns out it’s VM. 😂

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I don't use voice notes, but I leave the most annoying messages on the phone(btw I don't like speaking on the phone either lol..making exceptions for a few people)-they're long, illegible, full of "sorry you know me I can't leave a normal brief message for the life of me" and info is basically "hi it's me love you wanted to check on you and yours hope to talk soon"-why it takes me three minutes to say beats me.

My favorite people though been forgiving for years))

Sometimes I think people leave voice notes(on Whatsapp) 'cause that's faster than typing. Such people are usually concise though, unlike yours truly

Thank you for the great(and funny and so true) post, Nolan

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author

Haha, thanks for the honesty, Chen. If you ever decide to call me and leave a message, I'll be prepared.

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Great article, Nolan. I don’t mind voice notes, at least not as much as you. Maybe that’s cause I am a U.S.- American? What bugs me the most are the calls where they DON’T leave a vm…just a call to reach into my pocket and silence when I’m not there. Really freaking brazen and privileged behavior!

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author

Thanks, Dean! And I feel that. Do you also think it’s cultural?

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So, maybe a dumb question, but are WhatsApp voice memos encrypted? Or ...no, perish the thought.

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author

I'm not sure.

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