I’ve always loved talking on the phone. Texts are fine for short questions/answers but I have zero interest in “penpaling” with my friends or customer service reps. My kids are excellent phone conversationalists.
Are voice notes just a baby step away from using the phone for its for namesake function? I hope so and I hope it leads back to more phone calls and more intimate and meaningful communication.
I am not a person who enjoys talking on the phone.
Text is great.
I love a chat option for customer service support.
I don’t mind it for simple stuff but when I have a more complicated issue I’d much rather explain it to a person than write a novel in a chat box.
I prefer chat for customer service but between our close family including adult kids we talk on the phone daily with texts for something short.
It’s funny how everything comes full circle.
This just seems like worst of both worlds to me. Sometimes speaking is better than writing, but in that case I’d prefer an interactive conversation with a live person. If I’m going to leave a message, I’d rather write it. This just seems like a rebranding of voicemail - all the stresses of expressing yourself verbally in real time, without payoff of anyone hearing and reacting in real time. Meh.
Sometimes a good combination is short text (“got time for a call”?) followed by a real conversation on the phone then or at arranged time.
We use voice notes in our family often. But that is still a totally different animal than a phone call to me.
Yay to voice notes, but I still am ok limiting phone calls. Besides my kids, don’t love talking on the phone!
I HATE talking on the phone. I love texting and in person conversations.
I hate to receive voice texts. I have one friend who does this and I find it super annoying. I do Apple Car Play in the car and have Siri transcribe what I say to text and that’s great while I’m driving, but I really don’t want to listen to your voice text. Ugh.
I’d rather have a phone call or personally I’d usually rather text.
A phone conversation while doing something intrinsically boring makes the time go faster. It also adds a piece of social connection missing in texts. At times when busy I resent having to stop what I’m doing to answer texts. If a phone conversation I’d continue my activity while talking. I treasure the close friends who will happily take an extended phone call, but try to be sensitive to those who would rather avoid calls. If calls are coming back in vogue, hooray! Voice messages don’t thrill me however, I’d rather read it and then talk.
It depends. There are times when a conversation just gets too long or complicated to be completed via text message. When that happens…I prefer to speak to the person…and a phone call is fine.
No. I don’t think so. A voice note is different because it’s not a back and forth conversation and doesn’t demand the time of another at a specific moment.
Id say that my children treat phone calls as something special. The same way we treated spending time with someone in person. You don’t do it with everyone you know. And non planned calls are just for their inner circle.
I love talking on the phone when I’m doing my walks, or long drives.
I don’t have a strong preference for phone calls vs texting. They often serve different purposes, but not always. I know a lot of people dislike phone calls so I try to respect that and not call those folks unless I really need to.
A few people I know have started sending occasional voice notes and I’ve gotta say I’ve been loving it! They are all folks that I both text and have phone calls with, so it’s not an issue of them disliking one format.
It’s perfect for when something seems too long to text, or when tone is important. But you don’t necessarily want to have a phone convo about it at that moment (or at all).
Now I just need to remember that I too can send voice notes.
I’m not a big phone talker, but I have a couple friends who I really enjoy talking to on the phone. I talk on the phone with S at least once a week, usually while he is driving to or from a job. I FaceTime with GD, and while I usually text several times a day with D, we’ll talk on the phone if there’s something more substantial to discuss. H calls his mom on the phone all the time, but she rarely picks up (she’s hard of hearing & usually sleeping no matter the time of day).
I prefer online chat for some business type stuff. For example, I had to get a new phone for H & I wanted everything in writing. Another example was when I negotiated my Xfinity bill (doesn’t seem to work anymore, but it used to). I don’t like sales pitches, and I find that online chat gives me a better opportunity to respond the way I want to respond.
A voice note is one-direction communication. For that, I usually use email (which might turn into two-direction if they reply).
Someone can reply to your voice note with a voice note! Not one ended!
I just mean as compared to a phone conversations (great when you need immediate back/forth discussion for planning). Sometimes we start texting with another couple to plan, then switch to phone call.
I get a lot of 4 minute phone messages from my Dad (that’s when my machine cuts off, thought I think sometimes he does not hear that and keeps talking). My mom used to send daily emails - I liked that because I could skim / reread as needed.
For text or email (or voice note), I do like the non-interrupt aspect. It’s just not always easy to answer a phone call.
My S23 and his friends prefer phone calls to texts. It surprised me at first but, as someone who also prefers calling because it just seems more efficient, personal, and less prone to misunderstandings, I understand it.
I prefer to text long-winded friends and people I need to check on but don’t really want to chat with (e.g. my mom). It’s more socially acceptable to ignore a text/take awhile to respond than to abruptly end a conversation.
Not meaning to digress but I remember when I was a kid, parents in my neighborhood all agreed and gave kids CB radios because second phone lines were expensive. We used to talk for hours as a group.