Apr 3rd, 2009 at 2:42 pm
The End of Voice Mail
Writing in The New York Times, Jill Colvin takes a look at a trend I’m definitely part of: The decline of voice mail.
If you leave a message on my cell phone, I might get back to you one of these days. If you leave a message on my office voicemail, forget about it. I’m not even entirely sure I know how to check it. Definitely the whole time I was employed at The Atlantic I never once returned a voicemail. I figure that anyone who’s really eager to get in touch with me will email me. In general, I’m not a fan of talking on the phone, but listening to recorded messages of other people talking to me on the phone is absolutely the worst.
70 Responses to “The End of Voice Mail”
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April 3rd, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Dude, its rude not to return a voicemail.
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Spoken like a man without sources. Somebody want to feed me a story? Sorry, man, can’t be bothered.
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Why do I get the feeling that MattY thinks Asimov’s THE NAKED SUN would be a great blueprint for society?
Mike
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I don’t check office voicemail either.
The people who need to reach me know to use e-mail.
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:53 pm
…listening to recorded messages of other people talking to me on the phone is absolutely the worst.
Couldn’t agree more. Absolutely loathe voice mail.
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:53 pm
The best part of the whole article is the “No one sends an email saying ‘Email me back!’”. That is such bullshit! I rarely check or return voice mail of any kind.
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:53 pm
No time for office communication but twittering is where it’s at! *rolls eyes*
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Get this. I’m an IT manager and I don’t own a cell phone or have an office phone. Phones actually get in the way. My business card is my name and email address. I have 600 computers at my location where i can check my email at anytime. Or my iPod Touch whenever I want. Face to face or email, that’s how I talk.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Who are these people who enjoy dialing up a number, waiting for it to respond, authenticating themselves, and wading through a menu to listen to voicemail?
If you need to leave me a message, most likely the key information could easily be entered in a text message or an email message. In fact, these are more reliable on my phone than getting the voicemail symbol that tells me there’s a voicemail.
Voicemail may have had advantages over the pink pads used to record phone messages or having to dial back to get a hold of someone. But it is terribly cumbersome and inefficient compared to newer technologies. I certainly will not be shamed about my reluctance to use voicemail by people who are not concerned with the most effective way of communicating with me in the first place.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
You people don’t have children or a spouse or anyone close who might be phoning from a broken car or jail or a hospital?
They all know to text me.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Nobody ever calls me at work… they’d either e-mail me or use Google Talk… so I find it sort of intriguing when I see that blink light.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I have a few older clients that love to leave the voicemails.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:12 pm
You people don’t have children or a spouse or anyone close who might be phoning from a broken car or jail or a hospital?
No. But if I did have such a person, and if I saw that I had missed a call from them, then I would call them back before I bothered listening to the voice mail. If they hadn’t texted me as well and if I can’t get through by calling them, then yeah, I would check the voice mail. But we’re deep into hypothetical territory there.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:12 pm
If I just ignore the red light on my work phone, after about five minutes it emails me an MP3 of the message and I can listen to it on my desktop. I’ve got voicemail on my landline at home and I haven’t checked it in months.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:14 pm
“You people don’t have children or a spouse or anyone close who might be phoning from a broken car or jail or a hospital?”
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:14 pm
“You people don’t have children or a spouse or anyone close who might be phoning from a broken car or jail or a hospital?”
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Amen, brother. People who know me know damn well that I don’t respond to anything. If you want to talk to me, come to my house. And bring some weed.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:15 pm
“You people don’t have children or a spouse or anyone close who might be phoning from a broken car or jail or a hospital?”
Nah. If they’d had loved ones on the 9/11 planes or in the Towers, they would have been quite content just to get a text message.
Mike
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I’m just joining in with the crowd that hates voice mail. If the person just needs to give me a small amount of information, they can text me. If they need to give me lots of information, or just want to talk, their options are 1) leave a long and rambley voicemail which will be painful to listen to, 2) leave one of those annoying “Call me back” voice mails, or 3) just hang up because I’ll see that them called on the caller id and call you back. Option 3 is the only real option.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:17 pm
That explains why you missed that opportunity at the New York Times.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:18 pm
I’m with Matt. However, since I work with a number of older engineers who still use voicemail, I have conditioned myself to take the time to check (and know how to check) it whenever I return to my desk.
On the plus side, I noticed that I can use the PA system, which is a great way of pinging people who may be away from their desk/smartphone, on the can, etc.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Funny thing about the phone is that even if you don’t like it, sometimes people worth talking to do. Especially older people. Who might leave voice mails in the expectation that they’ll be checked and returned.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Hate voicemail. Don’t check it–ever. Text me. I always answer phone calls on my cell from “loved ones,” or I return their calls, cause, on cell phones, we have this thing called caller ID.
Anyone I want to get in touch with for work is on email, Gchat, or Twitter. Yes, I use Twitter to contact people and it works–so there. I’ve even used Twitter to get information on a bill from a member of Congress. It was a lot easier than calling his office and talking to some 20 year old intern.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:24 pm
If I didn’t check and respond to voicemails, I would be fired, plain and simple. You people are spoiled.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:28 pm
I hate voice mail menus,* but I hate text messages even more. Pay my cell carier for the service of receiving some cobbled together incoherent mess of abbreviated nonsense? No, kthxbai.
*interestingly, Verizon NEVER recognizes my PIN on the first try. They must really hope the wasted 3 seconds puts me over the 1-minute mark. WTF?
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:28 pm
i like my wife’s new phone that has the visual voicemail so you can see how many messages there are and who they are from so you can choose who you want to listen to. i hate voicemail. i listen to about 3 seconds of each one before deleting them and that includes messages from my wife and my mother. don’t tell them though.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:32 pm
You know what else I hate? Long lines at the grocery store. And airplane food. And pants.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:33 pm
BA hit the nail on the head. I don’t love checking voicemail either (my usual response when seeing the red light at my desk is, “Who dares to leave me a voice mail!?” But though it might be a pain in the neck, I understand that these people are calling me for a reason (especially work voicemails). Though I agree that universal messaging makes it easier.
Besides, there’s no reason to treat people like they’re just not worth your time. After all, what goes around comes around.
Now, you kids get off my lawn!
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Duke Nukem Says: Funny thing about the phone is that even if you don’t like it, sometimes people worth talking to do. Especially older people. Who might leave voice mails in the expectation that they’ll be checked and returned.
Dave C says: If I didn’t check and respond to voicemails, I would be fired, plain and simple
Exactly right! For all of you who decide to ignore the VM alert on your cells or office phones, have fun when you’re unemployed and you end up missing that important call for an interview.
If you do not want to use voice mail – you can disable the VM function on any phone. Better than not checking and letting important calls go unanswered.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Hi Matt, it’s me, I just wanted to say, I saw your article online, it was good, I…. sorry I’m tying my shoes… I agree with what you wrote, uhm, about voice mail and email. It’s definitely, um, it’s best to — thank you, have a nice day! — sorry, just went through checkout — anyways, give me a call back, when you get a chance, I’ll be around between 4-6. Take care, bye.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:40 pm
I always check voice mail at work, rarely on my cell (no home phone).
What bothers me is that when some leave a voice mail message they seem to think you instantly get the information.
“but I left you a message!”
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I’d argue that talking on the phone is the worst thing ever. And I have a job that requires talking on the phone fairly frequentley. FML
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I think is covered in the NYT article (I read it yesterday man, didn’t anyone else see the e-mail about it?
, but Google Voice (ex-Grand Central), transcribes any voice mails and sends them both by SMS and e-mail.
Best of all worlds, since old fuddy duddies can leave a VM (in case you get fired for not responding) but you get the gist in the transcription. It’s far from perfect, so I may listen to the recordings for a while longer. But some will certainly be delete-able.
I did love the line about no one e-mails you to just say “e-mail me back”. Phone tag though, been there, done that.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I agree with Dave. What’s funny is now I am thinking back to all of those people I interviewed at my last job and then called to offer them a position. Since a lot of them were college students or recent graduates I guess some of them might not have gotten back in touch because they are too cool or hip or something to answer voice mail. Oh, well. I just went on to the next person on the list.
I’m also flashing back to the time David Letterman’s then assistant now producer (I think) Laurie Diamond called me at work to discuss a post I put on a Newsgroup. Or the time Pulitzer Prize winning author Edward Larson called me to discuss a rather mundane scholarly matter.
Had I not checked and returned those voice mails I would have missed out on some pretty interesting phone calls.
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:04 pm
If you want to talk to me, come to my house. And bring some weed.
Damn right!
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
If people don’t want to use phones and voicemail it’s a choice to exclude the not insignificant number of people who still use phones from your circle of contact. Maybe those people are losers or old or whatever but they are most certainly real people. Communication is a two-way street (at least). Simply saying ‘everybody who needs to reach me uses email’ isn’t a communication strategy, it’s either a very narrow definition of ‘everybody’ or a self-selecting prophecy. ‘I can’t be bothered to answer the phone’ is what people really mean when sing the praises of communication based entirely in electronic text but that sounds less like cutting edge tech and more like being a lazy ass.
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I would love a job where I could decide who and in what medium I think is worth calling back. But maybe if I were that arrogant, I’d have a better job.
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:18 pm
You folks who don’t respond to voicemail must live some very sheltered lives. Out here in the real world most people don’t text, email, or twitter regularly. Now I suppose you can ignore that majority of the human race, but that is a big loss to you.
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Huh. I get multiple work voice-mails every day and if I just decided never to return them, there’d be a problem.
What’s more, it would never have occurred to me that returning them is optional. This thread makes me feel very, very old, and I’m in my early 30s.
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Why do I get the feeling that MattY thinks Asimov’s THE NAKED SUN would be a great blueprint for society?
Matt’s blueprint for society is more like The Caves of Steel.
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:51 pm
BA hit the nail on the head. I don’t love checking voicemail either (my usual response when seeing the red light at my desk is, “Who dares to leave me a voice mail!?” But though it might be a pain in the neck, I understand that these people are calling me for a reason (especially work voicemails).
Yes, and as I said upthread and probably other people have said as well, caller ID usually makes listening to the voice mail unnecessary.
It seems like this is how every argument about using technology develops. The NYT runs a trend article picking out a handful of cosmopolitan outliers who, when you think about it, look kind of like assholes. The type of people who are early adopters and proud of it (EAAPOI) say that they too are like those outliers, but make it sound like it has no practical impact on anyone else, just a personal idiosyncracy. People who haven’t already started (PWHAS) for whatever reason call the EAAPOI assholes. In generally modern forums like this one, the PWHAS also make some self-effacing remarks about feeling old.
Who belongs to which groups can change from technology to technology, but it’s a pretty solid pattern there. Never mind that the vast majority of the time it’s just a matter of which is more convenient for you depending stuff like how in control of your own life you are. I mean, you can bet that I got more voice mails when I was job-hunting than I do now, and I listened to them before calling back to be as prepared as possible.
I posted my 3:12 p.m. comment before reading the article. Now that I do, I see that the writer said the same thing as me once she got past the manufactured clash of cultures.
And of course, the obligatory counter-argument quote misses the point.
The time it takes the message-leaver is not the problem with voice mail, which everyone quoted in the article has already said; it’s the time it takes the listener. If you want someone to get your message, they’re more likely to do it earlier if you choose a medium that’s more convenient for them. You can already take your own convenience as a non-issue or you wouldn’t be sending the message.
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I personally use youmail and google voice for my most of my phones and they’ll transcribe the VM and send it to me via email or text. Very handy when I’m in a place where I can’t call my mailbox, but can read it. As a result I have time to think about it before I call back. The nice thing about google vioce is that I can now send an sms back in response.
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Reading most of these comments certainly reinforces how “old” I am, but it makes me feel better about not yet becoming a cell phone user. It looks like by holding out I’ll have skipped a technology cycle; I can just wait for the next generation super-device.
Still, drunk voice messages are far funnier/more embarrassing than a drunk text message. Another entertainment form fades away.
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I was going to write that y’all who don’t don’t bother to check your voicemaill are dicks until I realized that
1. I’ve left the voice mail box on my cell phone full for about 4 years now so that I don’t have to listen to [mostly my beloved wife's] 2-3 minute messages. A 3 minute voicemail message feels like forever. So my family know to call me and hang up quickly so I’ll just see the missed call and call them back
2. And the thing I really really hate about my office voicemail is that it won’t let me delete a message until after I’ve listened to the whole thing, which is pointless about 80% of the time since I’ve no interest in the message.
So I still think y’all are dicks but I guess I’m one too.
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Spoken like a man who never read the comments on his blog, I guess.
I don’t know, maybe I’m old-fashioned (I’m 35), but I was taught that when someone tries to contact me, it’s rude not to respond. Personally I like email and my cell phone, but it would be dickish to not respond to other means (texting, facebook messages, faxes, etc.) just because I feel they’re beneath me.
And wow, speaking of dickish, how about all the people essentially saying, “Gee, I employ Technology X. I can’t fathom why everybody else in the goddamn world doesn’t use Technology X. I guess the everybody who uses Technology Y is a big loser .”
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:03 pm
> On the plus side, I noticed that I can use
> the PA system, which is a great way of pinging
> people who may be away from their desk/smartphone,
> on the can, etc.
Why exactly do you believe that every human being on earth should respond to your demand for immediate response no matter what they might be doing? That belief is one of the msot irritating and counter-productive misfeatures of the recent “always on” society.
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Definitely the whole time I was employed at The Atlantic I never once returned a voicemail. I figure that anyone who’s really eager to get in touch with me will email me. In general, I’m not a fan of talking on the phone, but listening to recorded messages of other people talking to me on the phone is absolutely the worst.
================================================
Rude and damn proud of it! I suppose you don’t open letters either
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Interesting post and article… I’m with the others who said that you shouldn’t have a voicemail option if you’re not going to use it.
I can’t believe people would rather text. I generally don’t even give out my cellphone number.
April 3rd, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Along with some of the others here, my work phone is now voice over IP, with messages sent as audio files to email. I’ve found it to be a great improvement. I don’t have to pick up the phone and, if I miss something, I can just slide back to it instead of having to listen to the whole message twice.
And I don’t feel like a dick. Whether I should or not.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I love voice mail.
But I hate using my cell phone for anything other than calling out. (Land-lines, baby!)
I use a Tracfone for my cell phone, in case my previous statement did not make that fact obvious.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I’ll add my voice to those who are mystified by this post. I do find voicemail inconvenient, but far less inconvenient than missing a piece information that may be critical to my work or personal life.
And the line about no one emailing you to say “email me back” is presented like some cosmic insight. It’s just fucking stupid. The reason you ask someone to call you back, whether by voicemail, email or text, is because you want to have a dialogue, a back-and-forth interplay rather than an exchange of fully articulated messages. I’ve regularly emailed people to ask them to call or meet me, and I imagine you have too.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:52 pm
I do listen to my work voice mail when I happen to go to my office, because if I don’t the little blinking light on the phone drives me nuts. And also because I think the message just might be important (it rarely is). Most actual important messages require a callback, though, and having to decipher a recorded phone number and write it down to dial it is excruciating, especially when as usual the number is said too fast and I have to replay the whole damned message.
Compare that to the ease of reading a “call me please” email where the phone number is right there in front of me. And in my line of work, absolutely everybody uses email and has for twenty years.
A couple of years ago I tried to have voicemail deactivated on my office line, but the phone system had no way to do it. So now my greeting tells people to send email if they want a quick response.
And for what it’s worth, I’m in my late thirties and grew up when answering machines were the hot thing.
April 4th, 2009 at 12:46 am
Mid-twenties here, and although I rarely get voice mails, I always listen to them. I can’t stand to see that voice mail indicator on without knowing what it’s about.
I’m puzzled by the commenters who say checking voice mail is a hassle. Really? On my last cell phone, it was as easy as holding down a button and then typing my PIN. No annoying delay, just “You have one new message, sent Friday, 9:44 PM” and then the message. I recently switched carriers and now I don’t even have to enter a PIN as long as I call from my cell phone.
April 4th, 2009 at 2:32 am
I’d a lot rather listen to recorded messages than have to deal with phone calls whenever anyone else decided to interrupt me.
I think the landline phone with answering machine was the height of telephone technology. It saves me from being a slave to the phone and having to interrupt what I’m doing to suit someone else’s convenience. If I had a cell, I’d keep it on voicemail all the time just so I could talk to people when it was convenient for me.
April 4th, 2009 at 2:46 am
I have disabled my office voicemail and turned off the sound on my office phone. The only good chance of my answering your call is if I happen to be picking up the office phone when by chance you are ringing. That happens about four times a week.
April 4th, 2009 at 5:20 am
My office voice mail system is extremely annoying; there are way too many levels of menus and inscrutable numerical codes. However, some business associates like to leave important info on voice mail, so I’m compelled to check when the red light is on.
There are many moments in the work day when I’d rather talk by phone with someone and have a detailed convo with immediate feedback, rather than trading emails. However, I agree: if I get the person’s voice mail, then there’s not much point to leaving a voice message. It’s better to send an email: “Hey, I tried to call you. Call me back.”
Also, at a personal level, it’s often better to convey certain sensitive messages (e.g. “I can’t come to your party” or “I disagree with your work proposal” by voice rather than by text/email. So in such a case, if you try to call and get the voice mail, you should in fact leave a voice message.
April 4th, 2009 at 7:20 am
‘I don’t do voicemail!’ What a bunch of arrogant 4$$holes you anti-VMers are.
Checking VM is NOT optional. I don’t do texting, no one I know or do business with does texting, either. My business would close tomorrow if no one checked VM. Not checking VM just because you are an asshole is not acceptable.
I’ve made sure that people I work with know that email is the fastest way to get info from me, and that when they do leave a VM, that it’s SHORT! Name, phone number and time/date of call and that’s it. People that leave long rambling messages will be gently browbeaten.
April 4th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Sure but what about the people who need to reach you and don’t know that you only use e-mail?
Frankly I find E-mail unreliable. People thing it’s instantaneous yet it can get caught rolling around an SMTP queue for a day sometimes. Also most people write for shit or will not read a detailed email to understand a complex problem and requires several levels of feedback in realtime. There are some issues I won’t even begin to address unless it is in real time over the phone. My take is exactly the opposite. You need to reach me now? Call me. Email is for messages that I am to deal with at a time and place of my choosing. In other words Email = not urgent.
I hate long rambling VMs too but that what the stop key is for.
And yes I send out about three or four emails a day that say something to the effect of, “we need to talk about this issue over the phone in real time … call me” I hate to deal with crap in a fifty email exchange that could be settled in a 10 minute phone conversation.
April 4th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Yeah, I’m with Rick, pretty much. In my early 30s and I always check my voicemail, but if someone other than my boss sends me an email about something my default assumption is that it’s not that important. If it is important, then, sooner or later, they’re going to ring me about it.
April 4th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Don’t even know how to check my voice mail. I use my “Missed Calls” notification to return calls. Text me.
I remember we had pink message pads when I started a new job back in 2001. How much easier was it to just type the message into an email? We did not order any more of those.
April 4th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Here’s my pet peeve: I really hate people who try to have conversations over e-mail. It takes all day for exchange that would have been over in 5 goddamn minutes if you’d just picked up the fucking phone.
I also hate people who get mad if I don’t read their e-mail the instant it arrives. I’ve got shit to do! I don’t always have my e-mail open. If you want to grab my attention right now, again, pick up the fucking phone!
April 4th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
wow. I was brought up that any effort by anyone directed my way was to be, at a minumum, acknowledged. What kind of people are so arrogant as to automatically dismiss and ignore effort directed towards them because they “figure that anyone who’s that eager to get in touch with me” will somehow figure it out.
This sort of falls into that category of “the rich really are different than you and me”.
Must be so nice to be so self-important to think that the world just completely revolves around you.
April 4th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
> wow. I was brought up that any effort by anyone
> directed my way was to be, at a minumum, acknowledged.
> What kind of people are so arrogant as to automatically
> dismiss and ignore effort directed towards them because
> they “figure that anyone who’s that eager to get in
>touch with me” will somehow figure it out.
In fairness however that was during a time when both spoken and written communication were more difficult (that is, they carried a cost) and some thought was given before initiating them. My TAs in engineering school were the grad students who created the Internet (although we didn’t know it at the time), but at my first engineering job out of school – at a major firm – we had one telephone per group of four and you received a thoughtful look from the chief engineer if you made excess use of it. Similarly the typist would hand over any memo with an excessive number of cc’s to the office manager for review and woe to you if you crossed her.
Today of course no one thinks twice of sending an e-mail to 100 people on a project distribution list – and worse yet all the follow-ups – of which there are many – go to that 100 and more.
Cranky
April 5th, 2009 at 4:33 am
My assistant takes all my calls. When there are messages she transforms them into verse using the meter of the day and then recites them to me. For shorter messages I allow her to use haiku or senryu.
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