“I thought I’d voice note because it’s easier”

[crabsaremisunderstood]

More and more of my friends reply to my texts with a voice note and cite this exact phrase. Yes, it’s easier. But ONLY for the sender, not the recipient! I hate having to speed up the bastard things to get to the point of the message, when I could scan read a text in a matter of seconds.

Also, I don’t mind them when I’ve got a free day and can listen whilst pottering about with housework, but there’s no chance I can listen when I’m at work, so I have to leave them hanging for hours instead of seeing the text and quickly replying.

AIBU?

(light hearted…sort of )

I'm so glad to discover I am not alone in my hatred of a voice note!

Er, what is a voice note??

This doesn’t help when open use of phones isn’t permitted in my working environment (apart from a sneaky check between clients which is when I can send a quick reply).

@lookingforMolly you can be my friend.

Drives me crackers!! And then when people leave important information in a voice note, I have to note it down somewhere rather than having it already available in a text message!!

This is the only reason I’m happy that I switched to Apple this year, then!

Also a millennial and I've never recieved a voice note. They sound tedious as fuck!

Can you just text back 'can't listen to that I'm in the office / too busy / can't be arsed, can you text please' every single time. Never listen to them, make it so it's not 'easier' for them than sending a text.

Oh god my sister and a friend have started to do this. The friend in particular leaves about 40 mins of rambling. I could watch a documentary in that time! Then he follows up with texts to check I've got his message. Seriously do people not realise other people have their own lives?? I do not want to listen to someone drone on about their latest relationship issue. At least give a call if you're that needy for attention 😆

I don’t reply to voicemails unless from friends where English is not their native language

• voicenotes

I cannot stand voice notes and my friends know this, though there's only a couple of culprits who are obnoxious enough to send them. They are intrusive and inconvenient in every way for the recipient!

LOATHE THEM.

Have started a new job and about half the team the young ones use them. I get one and I have no idea what it's about, how urgent it is etc etc. Then I have to take notes if I'm not going to forget it all or have to listen again. One case last Thursday ended up with 23 minutes' worth of voice notes. That's half a patient session.

I hate most of all the ones who say 'apologies for leaving a long rambling voice note haha'. If you can't be bothered to order your thoughts, why should I have to do it for you?

I've done the same. I have three unlistened to voice notes from my sister just from today. Maybe she'll get the message one day 😆

I don't mind voice notes, unless they're long, then I can't be bothered to listen. I do mind them when I'm working, as I'm a teacher and can't listen to them.

I quite fancied a bloke until we started messaging on WhatsApp. His use of voice notes was a massive turn off and that was that.

I use voice messages for my mum because she had cataracts in both her eyes and couldn’t see anything until they were sorted out so the only way to communicate with her was through voice messages and I still send her voice messages even though she can see it’s just easier for us.

The worst was my friend after he was arrested (it was a case of mistaken identity) and he recorded the entire conversation with the police (well over half an hour) and then sent it to me.

The only thing more tedious than being suspected of a crime you didn't do by the police is listening to someone else's police interview.

I think it’s a “know your audience” situ. I VN three of my closest friends because we call commute so all have the time in the car, the signal around us isn’t brilliant and it works, all of us will text anything that requires an actual response though.
I would NEVER VN anyone other than those who I know genuinely do use them so I’ll vote YANBU - you just need to tell your friends, surely?

I have a few friends I love to swap voice notes with, usually for chatty or gossipy things rather than general admin or (eg) arranging a playdate.

But YANBU, I totally get the annoyance when one of said friends switches into using VN for logistics rather than just messaging timings. I also don't leave them for people unless they have left me one or made it clear they don't mind it. As someone pointed out above I can use voice to text entry if I don't want to type (eg if am pushing a buggy around but want to reply quickly)

Can't stand them. The bright, young twenty-somethings at work all seem to be getting sick of the novelty of it and are swapping back to text only.

I'm with you. And we're not alone.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cqz0MYxgIEx/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

I hate them. Unless I’ve got my ear buds on me, I’m unlikely to be in a quiet enough place to listen

Yanbu. There's a woman in our street WhatsApp that always sends them. Then she gets annoyed when no one replies. It doesn't seem to occur to her that it's not always convenient for others to listen!

I really hate voice-notes. Thankfully very few of my friends use them. One did for ages though, and it drove me mad. I'd forget what she said (they could be 7 mins long) or key details, and have to replay multiple times! It was so annoying... and entitled too I think.

This!!! So much this!!! YADNBU. I hate them. They’re basically the sender’s way of saying ‘my time is more important than yours’.