How does communication between people look like using messengers WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Viber and others here, in Europe and in the USA (as well as many other places)? A man, bending over the screen of his smartphone, painstakingly types words, collecting meaningful sentences from them. Some prefer to write short and succinctly, while others print entire treatises in a single text field before sending their thoughts to a friend. This will not seem entirely obvious to those who are accustomed to such a communication scheme using instant messengers, but there is another option – Chinese. How does communication between people using WeChat and QQ (which are the most popular applications) look like in China? The person pressed the voice message button, said whatever he thought, released the button – the message went away. The message that came in response is listened to by putting the device edge-on to the ear (recalls the glorious Nokia N-Gage with the scenario of the conversation 'I am a Cheburashka') or on speakerphone if the object is driving. On the one hand, it may seem that this method is damn inconvenient, because certain conditions are needed to listen to messages (silence around or the presence of a headset, etc.), on the other hand, it is very convenient: imagine how many hours in a life you can save by simply dictating thoughts rather than typing them. Let's consider all the pros and cons of voice communication in instant messengers.
PER
The main advantage of voice messages is that it is simple, convenient and secure. You do not need to type carefully and for a long time, just hold the record key and say whatever you need to. You can do this on the go, in the car, in almost any situation, it is easier, more convenient and safer to enter voice messages, because you do not need to look at the smartphone screen to enter them.
The second plus is fast. Typing speed, no matter how good it is, doesn't compare to your voice typing speed.
VS
The main disadvantage of voice messages is that it is not always convenient to listen to them. If you are at home, alone in the car, using a headset or headphones – yes, it is quite comfortable. However, unlike text messages, voice messages cannot be easily listened to among many people around (this is corny uncivilized), in a noisy place, and so on.
The second drawback is also associated with the conditions around – it is not always convenient to dictate a voice message. If you are riding the subway or walking along a noisy street, the interlocutor may not hear what you are telling him in your voice.
Another disadvantage is not immediately obvious, but it exists and is quite relevant for chats that you have been conducting for a long time – you cannot search for voice messages. It is clear that we do not use search very often, but sometimes we need to 'pick up' some information from the correspondence, and this can be done only if the correspondence was text.
TOTAL
The disadvantages of voice messages appear if you have a lot of chats with different people and you communicate with them on some important matters. Communicating with friends, on the contrary, does not always mean discussing important things, and here voice messages are great – sometimes you want to say a lot, but write for a long time. The voice is another matter. In such correspondence, as a rule, the use of search is not required. With work correspondence, the situation is exactly the opposite – it is also convenient to use voice messages here, but then you cannot search for them, and something important can be lost in dozens of short audio files.
Therefore, it is impossible to say that voice and text messages in the messenger are equivalent. Voice messages, in my opinion, are a cross between phone calls, when you need to find a contact in the address book, press the call button and wait for an answer, and text messages, fast, clear, but not so convenient.
What do you think about voice messages in instant messengers? Do you use them? What are the pros and cons of this communication method?