People who send WhatsApp Voice Notes are the worst

[SomehowItsMay]

"They're easier". Yes....easier for the sender only, not the recipient!

They have a function occasionally (i.e. if something is hard to explain and needs a bit of extra context) but other than that they're just lazy.

And the rambling ones... just no. Please organise your thoughts before you share them.

AIBU?

You couldn’t be more reasonable.

These people are evil.

I’ve only ever received voice notes from selfish people. They lack the ability to self reflect. These people also send long cut and paste from AI generators.

The only exception being if they have a close relationship with you and it’s mutually agreed

What feedback have you given @SomehowItsMay to the people who have sent you voice notes?

I just play it on 2x speed. It’s all good

I don’t bother to listen to them. Don’t have time for it.

I only get them for solid gossip and they are then well worth the time. No time for them otherwise.

I love a voice note from my friends.

What’s the problem with them? I don’t mind them at all

I have a friend who sends half hour ones! I have to wait until I have chance to listen to them, then can't comment on all the things they chat about as I can't remember them by the end! I can read a message straightaway, go through it & reply rather than eventually listen to a waffle podcast & forget most of it by the end!

I don’t mind them really. My blind friend sends them because it’s much easier for her than typing a text. I reply by voicenote because again, that’s easier for her. Similarly I have an elderly dyslexic relative who finds it easier.

I do also have a friend who is neither blind nor dyslexic and send me very long, rambling voicenotes while she’s driving which are a bit of a stream of consciousness. These are slightly annoying- but because of the rambling not because it’s a voicenote. I listen to them while I’m doing household chores, so I suppose that’s a plus- one can multi-task with a voicenote, you can’t easily load the washing machine while reading a text!

You can get them transcribed to text so you can read them. Go into Chats, press on the 3 dots and select transcribe.

An interesting mix of replies!

I love a 'waffle podcast' @Housewife2010, I shall be referring to whatsapp voice notes as that from now on. 😂

@Boobyslims My issues are:

• they're often so long and rambly that I can't remember what's in them by the time they finish so I forget what to reply to.
• they take way longer to listen to than a written message would to read.
• unless I reply immediately, I often have to RE-listen as again I've forgotten what's in them (whereas I can glance back over written messages super quickly)
• you have to be able to give them undivided attention - e.g. you can't listen and reply on a bus without headphones.

I do like hearing my friend's voice but I would be happier with an occasional phone call tbh.

@waiting your examples are cases where it's obviously fine to use them if that's what works for you both. I can see that they would be a great tool for accessibility.

and @HoppityBun you might have changed my life. Except......imagine how long the transcript of a 9 minute message would be..

I hate them. It encourages people to ramble for 7+ minutes. Transcribe is often hilariously inaccurate (like autocorrect levels of inaccurate) and even if it does accurately transcribe these 7+ minute messages I still have to read way more words than is necessary just for someone to say something they could have said in one sentence if they had only tried to write it! So it still wastes my time, especially having to puzzle out transcription errors. I can’t generally find a quiet place to listen to them so I often leave them unread/unlistened to.

I think they're quite fun actually. I don't send them myself unless someone is a voice-note messenger though. The only annoyance is that at work and commuting, I can't listen to them without my headphones – but that's not the sender's fault. If some people find it easier then I'm happy to accommodate, as long as they are happy to wait for me to listen and respond later.

but have you actually told her any of this yet @SomehowItsMay or would you rather tell a room of strangers on here?

Depends on the context for me. I have a friend with whom I exchange voice notes; we both have young children so finding time to actually talk is near impossible, and we live 100s of miles away from each other. Voice notes mean we can elaborate more than in texts, and it's just lovely to hear her voice. The rule is we listen and respond when we can, even if it takes weeks. It works beautifully for us.

However, I did step down from the PTA partly because people kept leaving voice notes in the group chat - impossible to keep up and you couldn't just scroll to check. In that case it was 100% about making it easy for themselves. I was very upfront about the fact that I wouldn't be listening to them before I left.

I don't mind, because I rarely receive any, though I did get a short one this morning, which I will reply to by text. But I would rather read things, and I know work is trying to be inclusive by sending videos, but honestly, a few bulleted point woukd suit me far more and I'd be a) more likely to read the info than I will to find time to watch it, and b) actually absorb whatever it I'd they're telling me about.

@itsmycheese that sounds like a nice way to stay close to your friend 😊

I think you've hit the nail on the head - they work in a mutually agreed context (and never if one-sided, or on a group)

I have a friend who used to send me 10 minute ones and in the end I told her I wasn't going to listen to them anymore. I find them impossible!

Voice notes were wonderful way of support when I was off lonely on maternity leave. I had a colleague who was also on maternity leave that I was friends with. We would send each other voice notes when the kids went down for a nap, obviously we had different schedules, but it meant that I would see one of her notes ping up when we were in a soft play for example, and I’d look forward to listening to it when I had my cup of tea and my son was having his nap. She said she’d see mine, and look forward to listening to it when her son was having a nap. Both of our husbands worked and were out the house from eight till six, so it was like having a friendship conversation every day, but it fit in with our schedules. It was only two or three minutes at a time though. I loved it. We did it for about six months.

I never listen to them. They’re irritating because you need to press more buttons, can miss details and are too rambling.
If there was an option in settings to block them in a way the sender can see that this number does not accept voicenotes, I’d be all over it.

It depends - I have a friend who lives abroad and we VN each other. I listen while I am out for a walk. Neither of us feel the need to respond immediately; it might be a few days between messages before we have a chance to listen etc. but I like to hear her voice.

I wouldn't generally VN people though.

I absolutely hate them, the minute I see a voice note I get such an angry feeling and I'm angry listening to it and I end up not giving a shit to what they're saying and when they start laughing at their own message half way through I'm thinking, dear god you've sent me a message waffling and half of it you laughing at yourself.

Everyone who knows me knows I hate them but there's 3 people who insist it's easier for them to record, they also say listen and reply whenever but 2 will actually follow up with a text a short while after asking if I've listened to it.

Trying to listen to them outdoors is nearly impossible, I don't always have earphones, if I hold the phone up to my ear I have to bring it back down to turn up the volume so the message pauses, then I have replay then the message starts half way through, then I have to try scroll that tiny counter back to the start, then it pauses again, then if I press it too hard against me face it rings the person....

Hate them

I send them very occasionally, usually if I am out for a walk and i get a message tha t does need a rapid reply but I don't want to stop and type. But on the whole I dislike them, especially if they are long.If you want to talk, then phone!
I can skim read a long written message quite easily, even when I am also doing something else, but have to listen to the whole thing if it's a voice note. And I find it particularly annoying if some information that I actually need, like an appointment time, or someone's address, is midway through a long rambling voice note and you have to listen to it all to find it, when on a typed note you can skip straight to it.