Friend keeps sending long voice notes instead of messages

[GirouxSein]

A friend has started sending voice notes for everything. Some of them are 5 minutes long and I often can’t listen straight away. It then feels rude when I reply hours later.
I know it’s probably meant to be more personal, but I find it a bit overwhelming and honestly prefer a normal message I can skim when I’m busy.

Haha made me smile. My mother still does this.

I love vn !
I listen to them when I am am on my way to or from work and when I'm cooking.

And when myself and friends reply it can be over several days

Thinking about this a bit more, perhaps the growth in popularity of VN is because actually a lot of us miss chatting on the phone, that got lost with the advent of text messaging, so maybe actual phone calls are on their way back too. I’ve never got my head round VNs finding them disruptive, without getting the benefits of being able to chat back and forth, but would welcome a return to proper phone calls. Texting allows you to check first to make sure it’s convenient, best of both worlds.

If you want your mind really blown look at Plaud AI. It's a credit card that snaps on the back of your phone, and will record conversations in the room AND calls. And you can get it on your desktop. Must better. Will give you transcripts, summary, behavioural analysis https://uk.plaud.ai/pages/plaud-note-pro?utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=Search_Brand_Conversion_Sales_20250821&utm_term=AO&utm_content=search_brand&tw_source=google&tw_adid=771286390769&tw_campaign=22927224217&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22927224217&gbraid=0AAAAAq6qvKrKG-VNWxS81O6dx7zQaxAK2

I am a bit computer dumb but I can't find a way to zoom in. Can you help?

Try telling them to stop 🙄

I quite like them and have never felt they are rude. I think people leave them when they're catching up with calls / messages while they're on the move.

Its terrible and doesn't work at all. Misses huge chunks or gets words wrong.

WTF is a voice note?

I too have a friend who sometimes does this and I always feel bad if I don't read and reply immediately which is, of course, why written messages are preferable in the first place. How do you get AI to transcribe them, please ?

I wonder if it's a car thing? I commute by train and usually walk/cycle/ take public transport where convenient. When I'm in the car I usually have other people with me. I'm guessing that if you spend large chunks of time alone in the car then a voice note is a much more convenient option for you and passes the time a bit.

But it also explains why I neither send or appreciate receiving them - because I don't have those big chunks of solo silent time.

I actually quite like VN's. I've had many a laugh listening to my friend's and they mine. If you're worried they may be NSFW then just get some headphones 🎧

OMG I would hate that

This has made me laugh, I have a friend who is notorious for this, I either get long voice notes which I have to ensure I am alone to listen to as she can be wildly inappropriate, or the texts, oh the texts….

She is a proper night owl, whereas I go to bed early on weeknights, and she seems to have a sixth sense of knowing when I’m just drifting off to sleep, to hit me with a barrage of messages (5 separate texts that could have just been one text!)

She is one of my oldest and dearest friends who I met in the assembly hall on my first day of secondary school and we’ve been friends ever since, but in that moment I’m grabbing my phone to mute the chat muttering YOU BITCH!!! 🤣

If anyone called me Hun I wouldn’t be communicating with them at all

I have someone who does this and it’s always about arranging to meet, or birthday ideas, so I’d far rather have a visual reminder on a text I can refer back to.
Theyre long so I play them back sped up, which also means you can’t review them in the office, or while DH or the kids are in earshot.
The rationale is her eyesight isn’t great, but you can dictate a written text and she manages to read my reply (and send another immediate voice note)!

Why don't you set do not disturb on your phone? The whole point of communicating via text is that's it's asynchronous so send when it suits, reply when it suits.

I never listen to them…just leave me a message if I don’t answer or call me…don’t just dump on me 30minutes I can’t even interject nothing lol…

Hun

Is this a generational thing to hate voice notes? It took me a while to get on board but I find it a great way to keep in touch with people (especially long distance) in such a busy life. We send them back and forward with no pressure to reply in a timely manner. If we waited to find time to speak on the phone we’d never catch up! I am so much more in touch with what’s going on in their lives since starting it :)

I don't like them either especially if they include dates, times, meet up locations. I want to go back and scan read or use search option to find past message.

it’s like getting little podcasts!

I loathe them; absolutely loathe them. Only acceptable from kids (my ds will send me voice messages via the Alexa which appear on my phone). Adults who witter on, ESPECIALLY if they're giving information that you might need again later, can bog off. I find them really intrusive and yes, as a pp said, very "my time is so important". Text or call. Do NOT send me bloody voice notes. Ugh.

Nice to see I'm not the only one. As a SEND parent, exchanging voice notes is the closest thing me and my other SEND parent friends get to gaving a natter on the phone. Our lives are so hard, we're extremely time and sleep poor and social lives aren't really a thing but we would never dream of being so rude about voice notes and always make time to support each other. We just listen and respond when we can.