{"id":625782,"date":"2023-04-05T09:50:03","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T14:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/05\/why-all-your-friends-are-sending-you-voice-notes\/"},"modified":"2023-04-05T09:50:03","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T14:50:03","slug":"why-all-your-friends-are-sending-you-voice-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/05\/why-all-your-friends-are-sending-you-voice-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Why all your friends are sending you voice notes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a world where we\u2019re overloaded<\/a> with texts, anxiety-ridden<\/a> about phone calls, and fatigued<\/a> by video chats, many people are turning to another form of communication: voice messages.<\/p>\n

Voice messages, sometimes called \u201cvoice notes\u201d or \u201cvoice texts,\u201d are short audio recordings people send to each other (not to be confused with voicemail) and a built-in feature in popular messaging apps like WhatsApp, iMessage, and Telegram. <\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019ve noticed: Lately, they\u2019re popping up in more group chats and one-on-one conversations. 62 percent of Americans say they\u2019ve sent a voice message, and around 30 percent communicate this way weekly, daily, or multiple times a day, according to a random sample poll of 1,000 US adults by YouGov run for Vox. Younger people are using voice messaging even more, with some 43 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds who responded to the survey saying that they use the feature at least weekly. WhatsApp said last year that over 7 billion voice messages <\/a>are sent on the app every day. Some are even communicating more with voice messages than texts, according to WhatsApp\u2019s head of consumer product, Zafir Khan. <\/p>\n

\u201cI use voice messages every single day,\u201d Kennedy Dierks, a 21-year-old student at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, told me. \u201cI find it to be a lot more personal than a text.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dierks said voice messages have exploded in popularity on her college campus in the past year. As an example, she said she recently used the feature to give a friend the rundown about a date she\u2019d just gone on, because it was easier to \u201chash it out\u201d than via text. More broadly, voice memos are popular because they allow people to share the richness that comes with voice communication, like tone, mood, and humor \u2014 without the pressure of inconveniencing someone with a phone call. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives me anxiety to think I\u2019m going to catch someone at a bad time with a call,\u201d said Hannah Ayla, a 30-year-old graphic designer in Tampa, Florida, who says voice messages \u201csaved her relationships\u201d when she was dealing with chronic pain in her arm and unable to text.<\/p>\n

There are downsides to voice messages, though. They can be tedious to listen to if they\u2019re too long or rambling, which can happen a lot. And it\u2019s hard to discreetly send a voice note if you\u2019re in a meeting or at work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI respect the fact that most people are like, \u2018I don\u2019t want to have to stop and listen to you talk for three minutes or whatever. I just want to have a back-and-forth conversation,\u2019\u201d said social media consultant Matt Navarra, who is a power user of WhatsApp voice messages. \u201cIt can be quite annoying that you are monopolizing their time.\u201d <\/p>\n

In my experience, I use voice notes to keep in touch with friends who live overseas in vastly different time zones. With voice messages, I can give them meaningful updates about what\u2019s new in my life without overwhelming them with multiple-paragraph-long texts. I find it to be a more thoughtful form of communication. Although it can take longer for me to listen to a two-minute audio clip than skim through a text, with audio messages there\u2019s less pressure to respond right away, allowing me to really listen to what my friends are saying and respond when I have time to share a deep response. <\/p>\n

Voice messages give us some of the emotional depth and nuance that\u2019s missing from bite-size texts that compress our feelings. The fact that people are embracing a relatively new, more expressive messaging format for talking to each other may reflect a deeper phenomenon: our desire to strengthen relationships as the horrors of the pandemic gradually recede and we emerge from a period of social isolation<\/a> and loneliness<\/a>. <\/p>\n

I spoke with several avid voice message users, and dug into the research behind voice versus text communication, to better understand why people are embracing voice messages and how they\u2019re shaping our relationships.<\/p>\n

The science of voice messaging <\/h3>\n

There\u2019s scientific rationale for why people prefer voice messages to texts in some situations: We can understand each other better when we actually listen. <\/p>\n

Research has shown that by hearing someone\u2019s voice, even for a matter of seconds, people can pick up on what\u2019s called \u201cparalinguistic cues,\u201d which we don\u2019t have over text. Those cues \u2014 like someone speaking a little more loudly when they\u2019re excited \u2014 help people convey their intended message, especially when it comes to communicating complex emotions like sarcasm or humor.<\/p>\n

Even though paralinguistic cues can be subtle, they\u2019re \u201chumanizing\u201d reminders that whoever you\u2019re listening to \u201cis a thoughtful, feeling person,\u201d said Juliana Schroeder, a professor at UC Berkeley\u2019s Haas School of Business.<\/p>\n

Schroeder\u2019s research has shown that not only are people more likely to have \u201cempathic accuracy,\u201d or a better understanding of the mental state a person is in when they hear instead of read what they\u2019re saying, but they seem to find the person more sharp and relatable, too. When people listen to someone speak rather than read their writing, they perceive them as more \u201cmentally capable\u201d \u2014 meaning reasonable, emotional, and likable \u2014 Schroeder\u2019s study found<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In one experiment, people with liberal views who were exposed to a person espousing conservative political views had a less negative perception of the communicator when they listened to them talking, compared to when they read a transcript of the exact same audio.<\/p>\n

On a more personal level, the research findings match what I\u2019ve been hearing about why people like voice messages. Several people told me that they use voice messages to express complex feelings that can become muddled over text: like checking in with someone who you\u2019re worried may be upset with you, or, conversely, showing someone that you\u2019re actually not upset (we\u2019ve all panicked over receiving an inscrutable \u201ck\u201d or \u201cthat\u2019s fine\u201d text). In essence, voice messages can help clarify miscommunications.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes in friendships, there\u2019s a compulsion to apologize for something the other person might not even be bothered by,\u201d said Ashley Alderton, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and uses voice texts a lot. \u201cIf you\u2019re trying to reassure somebody, it\u2019s so much easier to do that with your voice because you can show warmth.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than just warmth, there\u2019s a sense of authenticity with voice messages that\u2019s harder to achieve with text.<\/p>\n

For example, Ayla said that when she had to cancel last minute on a date due to suddenly getting booked for surgery, she sent a voice note instead of a text.<\/p>\n

If she texted him, \u201cit would sound really fake,\u201d she said. It\u2019s a good thing she didn\u2019t, Ayla said, because her date (who is now her boyfriend), said he probably wouldn\u2019t have believed her if he didn\u2019t hear her explain the situation.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another big reason some people are more personal in audio messages than in texts: It feels more private. On iMessage, audio messages disappear by default after two minutes, giving them an ephemeral nature. Of course, if someone wanted to, they could save the audio and send it around \u2014 so that feeling of privacy may be a false sense of security \u2014 but it\u2019s still why some people said they felt more comfortable sharing personal details via voice message. <\/p>\n

Adding to the more unfiltered vibe of audio messages is the fact that many people send them right away without second-guessing what they\u2019re saying. On both WhatsApp and iMessage, by default, voice messages are sent instantaneously. While both apps give you the option to listen to your message before sending and rerecord if you want, it\u2019s a lot easier to just send one off without thinking about it \u2014 a harder task to do with texts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just lift my finger and let go,\u201d said Ayla, explaining the simple push-and-record mechanism for sending an audio message. \u201cIf I re-listened, I would never send one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many people who send voice notes said they did so because it simply takes less effort than crafting a text, especially for more off-the-cuff conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m talking about something that\u2019s really stupid, like if we\u2019re talking about reality TV drama or just some sort of silly story, that would take way more time to write out than it would to rattle on,\u201d Alderton told me. <\/p>\n

An international equalizer<\/h3>\n

While voice messages seem to be catching on more now in the US, they have long been popular internationally, particularly on WhatsApp, which has had the feature since 2013.<\/p>\n

Voice messages are \u201can equalizer because not every language is easy to type,\u201d said WhatsApp\u2019s Khan, who uses the feature to keep in touch with relatives in Pakistan whom he can speak with \u2014 but not read and write to \u2014 in Urdu. In the YouGov poll of 1,000 American users, about 13 percent said they use voice messaging specifically to overcome language barriers.<\/p>\n

Voice messaging is also more popular in some parts of the world than others because \u201cin some cultures, people seem to naturally gravitate toward voice,\u201d said Khan. It\u2019s particularly popular, for example, with WhatsApp users in Latin America and West Africa. <\/p>\n

Gloria Felicia, a 27-year-old San Francisco-based tech entrepreneur and startup adviser for Spero Studios, said that with her family in Indonesia, voice messages aren\u2019t as common.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost rude for them to send voice messages,\u201d said Felicia. \u201cBut in China, I know for a lot of my friends, voice messaging is an everyday thing. … Even in a personal relationship, like a boyfriend-girlfriend situation, I know people who almost never text each other. They just reply to each other\u2019s voice notes throughout the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of voice messages\u2019 international appeal may be because it\u2019s been a core feature of WhatsApp, which historically has had a much bigger user base outside the US (although recently, it\u2019s been growing the fastest in North America<\/a>). The Meta-owned app is the most popular messaging app in countries like India and Brazil. <\/p>\n

In many countries, \u201cit\u2019s not uncommon for us to see some users who communicate primarily with voice messages even more than text,\u201d Khan said. \u201cWe want to be an app that\u2019s flexible enough to allow people to communicate in a way that works best for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just a fad or a meaningful shift?<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s clear why people like voice messages. But are they actually improving our relationships in a meaningful way? And will they come and go as other fads in audio have (remember Clubhouse<\/a>)? <\/p>\n

Several studies have shown that people feel more socially bonded when communicating via phone call rather than text-based communication. We don\u2019t know whether those findings hold to voice messages, which, unlike phone calls, are \u201casynchronous,\u201d meaning that you aren\u2019t talking to the other person at the same time, according to Amit Kumar, a professor of marketing and psychology at UT Austin who conducted research<\/a> on the topic. <\/p>\n

When I video-called Kumar recently, he explained the upsides: \u201cAs we\u2019re having this conversation, I see you nodding when I\u2019m saying things, and you can interject with questions … and I can respond in real time.\u201d The back-and-forth creates social bonding in phone and video calls, but that bonding may not be as strong with voice messages.<\/p>\n

They can also be less convenient than texting because it takes longer to listen to them.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why voice notes aren\u2019t for everyone. Navarra said that some people don\u2019t want to be bothered by listening to voice notes, which he says have much more benefits for the sender than the receiver.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite a self-serving communication style,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

WhatsApp\u2019s Khan acknowledged that voice messages can be \u201cmore cumbersome to listen to than text\u201d and said that\u2019s why the app rolled out features to help make voice messages more convenient for people who don\u2019t have the time to listen, like faster playback speeds. The company is also testing auto transcription for voice messages \u2014 which could help people take in voice messages more quickly but also would take away some of their personal appeal. <\/p>\n

Even with these features designed for convenience, voice messages can still be more time-consuming (at least for the receiver) than texting, and don\u2019t have the same benefits of \u201csynchronous\u201d communication like a phone call or in-person chat, researchers say.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find it curious that people would choose to use this technology,\u201d said Jeffrey Hall, a professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas, \u201cbecause in some ways it introduces inefficiencies of communication.\u201d <\/p>\n

But with voice messages, the trade-off is part of the point. Voice messages will never replace the efficiency of a text or the real-time connection of a phone call. Voice messages are a compromise between those two mediums. <\/p>\n

At a time when there are seemingly endless ways to communicate, it\u2019s meaningful that people are choosing voice messages at all. It suggests that people \u2014 especially young people \u2014 are taking more ownership of their daily communication habits. They\u2019re not just defaulting to texts, calls, or video chats, but instead experimenting with new ways to talk that feel more natural to them. For that reason, my bet is voice messages are here to stay \u2014 even if that means it\u2019ll become more normal to spend 15 minutes listening to voice notes detailing my friends\u2019 disastrous first dates. <\/p>\n

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A messaging app is seen on the screen.”,”default”:{“srcset”:”https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/686qsqa1Obfy81ukQE-wKJjA22k=\/0x0:4874×3256\/320×240\/filters:focal(2048×1239:2826×2017)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/72141980\/GettyImages_1038822404.0.jpg 320w, https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/_7KNEPMsfBIT39VSwMfHRZXMfkQ=\/0x0:4874×3256\/620×465\/filters:focal(2048×1239:2826×2017)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/72141980\/GettyImages_1038822404.0.jpg 620w, https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/MBQm-vLSjPUq-PyFJeJENr_ME60=\/0x0:4874×3256\/920×690\/filters:focal(2048×1239:2826×2017)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/72141980\/GettyImages_1038822404.0.jpg 920w, https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/8nFdjaVNUvT7gpxlTvK99SHfEsU=\/0x0:4874×3256\/1220×915\/filters:focal(2048×1239:2826×2017)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/72141980\/GettyImages_1038822404.0.jpg 1220w, https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/aBfop1PmZuw7xwZ0fyZPVnrA16o=\/0x0:4874×3256\/1520×1140\/filters:focal(2048×1239:2826×2017)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/72141980\/GettyImages_1038822404.0.jpg 1520w”,”webp_srcset”:”https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/PyoZ6KGLsgS675ivXkoU7vNQoSc=\/0x0:4874×3256\/320×240\/filters:focal(2048×1239:2826×2017):format(webp)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/72141980\/GettyImages_1038822404.0.jpg 320w, https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/N363ZgAsPpVCwRcqlKDI3XcxzFo=\/0x0:4874×3256\/620×465\/filters:focal(2048×1239:2826×2017):format(webp)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/72141980\/GettyImages_1038822404.0.jpg 620w, https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/XgTObzzpT_KmNlSVmmG8cWB4j2o=\/0x0:4874×3256\/920×690\/filters:focal(2048×1239:2826×2017):format(webp)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/72141980\/GettyImages_1038822404.0.jpg 920w, https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/tt7S–nToNhXArQFedNMhyxcWkM=\/0x0:4874×3256\/1220×915\/filters:focal(2048×1239:2826×2017):format(webp)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/72141980\/GettyImages_1038822404.0.jpg 1220w, https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/fn8UAQo6xp6bHje8WKDaf4WOxGM=\/0x0:4874×3256\/1520×1140\/filters:focal(2048×1239:2826×2017):format(webp)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/72141980\/GettyImages_1038822404.0.jpg 1520w”,”media”:null,”sizes”:”(min-width: 809px) 485px, (min-width: 600px) 60vw, 100vw”,”fallback”:”https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/3xsiTd18_Qw7LqW4hiBaJUqThfE=\/0x0:4874×3256\/1200×900\/filters:focal(2048×1239:2826×2017)\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_image\/image\/72141980\/GettyImages_1038822404.0.jpg”},”art_directed”:[]}},”image_is_placeholder”:false,”image_is_hidden”:false,”network”:”vox”,”omits_labels”:true,”optimizable”:false,”promo_headline”:”Why all your friends are sending you voice notes”,”recommended_count”:0,”recs_enabled”:false,”slug”:”technology\/23665101\/voice-message-whatsapp-apple-text”,”dek”:”Phone call? Lol. Voice note? Sure.”,”homepage_title”:”Why all your friends are sending you voice notes”,”homepage_description”:”Phone call? Lol. Voice note? Sure.”,”show_homepage_description”:false,”title_display”:”Why all your friends are sending you voice notes”,”pull_quote”:null,”voxcreative”:false,”show_entry_time”:true,”show_dates”:true,”paywalled_content”:false,”paywalled_content_box_logo_url”:””,”paywalled_content_page_logo_url”:””,”paywalled_content_main_url”:””,”article_footer_body”:”Since Vox launched in 2014, our audience has supported our mission in so many meaningful ways. More than 80,000 people have responded to requests to help with our reporting. Countless teachers have told us about how they\u2019re using our work in their classroom. And in the three years since we launched the Vox Contributions program, tens of thousands of people have chipped in to help keep our unique work free. 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More than 80,000 people have responded to requests to help with our reporting. Countless teachers have told us about how they\u2019re using our work in their classroom. And in the three years since we launched the Vox Contributions program, tens of thousands of people have chipped in to help keep our unique work free. We\u2019re committed to keeping our work free for all who need it, because we believe that high-quality explanatory journalism is a public good. We can\u2019t rely on ads alone to do that. <a href=\"http:\/\/vox.com\/pages\/support-now?itm_campaign=anniversary-week1-week2&itm_medium=site&itm_source=article-footer\">Will you help us keep Vox free for the next nine years by making a gift today?<br \/>\n<\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><label tabindex=\"0\" role=\"radio\" aria-checked=\"true\"><\/p>\n<p>\n <span>$95<\/span><span>\/year<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<p> <\/label><\/p>\n<p> <label tabindex=\"0\" role=\"radio\" aria-checked=\"true\"><\/p>\n<p>\n <span>$120<\/span><span>\/year<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<p> <\/label><\/p>\n<p> <label tabindex=\"0\" role=\"radio\" aria-checked=\"true\"><\/p>\n<p>\n <span>$250<\/span><span>\/year<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<p> <\/label><\/p>\n<p> <label tabindex=\"0\" role=\"radio\" aria-checked=\"true\"><\/p>\n<p>\n <span>$350<\/span><span>\/year<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<p> <\/label><\/p>\n<p> <label tabindex=\"0\"><\/p>\n<p> <span>Other<\/span><br \/>\n <\/label>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/vox.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=\" id=\"contribute--submit\"><\/p>\n<p>\n Yes, I’ll give $120<span>\/year<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<p> <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n Yes, I’ll give $120<span>\/year<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n <span><br \/>\n We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and<br \/>\n <\/span><br \/>\n <span><br \/>\n Google Pay. You can also contribute via<br \/>\n <\/span>\n <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?hosted_button_id=VSP4PYJX98SHL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/22734206\/paypal_logo.png\"><br \/>\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/technology\/23665101\/voice-message-whatsapp-apple-text\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Gaylene Badon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a world where we\u2019re overloaded with texts, anxiety-ridden about phone calls, and fatigued by video chats, many people are turning to another form of communication: voice messages. Voice messages, sometimes called \u201cvoice notes\u201d or \u201cvoice texts,\u201d are short audio recordings people send to each other (not to be confused with voicemail) and a built-in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":625783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1435,4487,46],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-625782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-friends","8":"category-sending","9":"category-technology"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}