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?

I don't like using WhatsApp to send messages and don't know how to send voice notes.

I'm old and don't care 😅

Hard agree

well:‘if you’re sure. Did you ask them?

People who send them tend to be selfish and self absorbed

Yeah, oldies think everyone else is selfish and self absorbed 😂

I only send voice notes when I’m driving because the diction function is two too much hassle and always gets things wrong

exactly. it's lovely to hear each others voices and sometimes if it's a quick message on the fly it's easier than a text. but then I like my friends. not everyone on MN seems to do so

God yes the long rambling ones! If you want a chat ring me, otherwise just write a quick message fgs

Nah, just those that send those voice messages.

anyway, im not old.

How do you transcribe WhatsApp messages? Is that just an Apple option, not Android?

Maybe you just act like it then. It’s a certain old fashioned trait to try and shame other women into behaving the way you want by telling them they’re selfish and self centred for not meeting your approval.

it speaks to your own worst fear of being judged as selfish, so you assume everyone else is the same.

My Daughter sends them, always short and to the point, bit like a Sergeant Major

Hate them! Obviously there are exceptions, but otherwise I find them to be a case of ‘I’m too busy/important to sit and type but i expect you to find the time and focus to listen.’

I have one friend in particular who looooves a VN - I will listen but it’s a sure fire way to get a very late response from me.

Yes my friend is registered blind and much prefers receiving and sending voice notes. Why would I make them struggle to read and write a reply?

I hate them too.

I will accept them from close family or people with genuine issues that mean they can’t text easily but anyone else, please no.

I didn’t subscribe to your podcast.

Maybe, but then the children want to get involved and we don’t get to talk. When I say “immediate” there’s probably a bit of a lag. After back and forth voice notes over a 30 minute period there might be 10 minutes worth of talking for instance. It also means we can both be doing other things without being rude.

But, yes, sometimes we do realise we’re both free and phone call but the more kids everyone has the less that happens!

Exactly two circumstances where they're acceptable:

1. the sender is driving and it's urgent
2. the sender genuinely has difficulty writing in English (or at all) because of a language barrier, disability etc., AND knows how to keep a voice note short

Otherwise I'm with you OP, they give me the rage. I have to spend ages either finding headphones or waiting until I'm somewhere I can listen in private, then it takes two minutes to listen to something that would have taken me less than ten seconds to read. i actually hate them more when we're 'talking' in real time and the other person switches to voice notes, because it breaks the whole flow of the conversation for me.

Honestly I just don't respond to them

Everyone knows I'm hard of hearing and suffering with chemo fog. If you can't be arsed putting a message for me into a format that's I can understand then I'm not bothering. If I knew you if you found voice notes easier then I'd use those for you but kindness works both ways.

Oh I’m selfish as fuck too: but I try not to impact others lives. But it really is self absorbed to leave big long rambling chatter messages expecting someone else to listen: like the audience of some low rent podcast where you’re the main character.

and I’m not sure why you think it’s just shaming women; I hate men doing it too. And it really hate those reels where self appointed experts chatter shite on the internet

These and the people like my work colleague who can’t write an entire paragraph instead sends one line in several messages.

My 65 year old mother does long voice messages to offload her worries and anxiety onto us. So draining 😫

I think they're great. I don't send them often but always enjoy receiving them.

I wonder if women who hate them didn't have many friends as kids - they remind me of those long telephone calls that used to drive parents mad as we hogged the telephone line

You can type comments as you listen to it. 30 mins is excessive though 😯. I use them with some friends but I know others that hate them.

I love a voice note, particularly if it's from someone I don't see very often. I appreciate they are not as easy to access as a written message