Hello everyone. The other day there was an idea to write about voice messages on social networks and instant messengers, and also ask how you feel about such things.
Some time ago I caught myself thinking that almost all messages that I send to WhatsApp, Telegram and VK are voice-based, that is, I click on the speech recording button and dictate the necessary sentences. As a rule, the answer comes in text form. Therefore, I asked myself: is it convenient for my interlocutors to receive voice instead of text, is it convenient for them to record speech themselves? As a result, I asked several acquaintances and friends to answer these questions.
The most detailed commentary was given by her friend Tatiana:
'one. Very often I find myself in a situation in which it is uncomfortable for me to speak with my voice.
For example, I may be surrounded by people whom I, for one reason or another, are not ready to initiate into the topic I am discussing with my friends.
Or the place where I am requires silence or other behavior that excludes communication in the messenger. For example, I’m sitting at a table with my parents (I don’t seem to be actively chatting with them, but my voice communication in the messenger will be completely out of topic). Or, on the contrary, I am in a place where it is noisy … And I do not want to shout so that my words could be heard.
2. A text message is transmitted much more easily than an audio message. For example, the network was caught for a second, and the text managed to arrive on the phone to the interlocutor. And the sound one may not have time to download. Of course, there may be no urgency in the transmission, but I want my message to reach my interlocutor exactly at the moment when its content is relevant, and not when my interlocutor is in a suitable environment for a voice message or when he is normal to catch the Internet (it often happens that during a conversation belated voice messages arrive, which were delayed on the way … and were no longer received in the subject).
3. When I write, I immediately structure myself from the inside and give out a clear thought. With a voice message, information is transmitted in the formulation mode, and it is not so clear.
4. I do not want to force my interlocutor to listen to my pauses between words in the moments of my thoughts. What I will write in three lines, in voice messages a person, on average, will generate a minute, repeating words and reformulating the same phrases. And there will be no moments like 'don't listen to this record', whereas the person spent his time and energy listening. Those. in a text message, in my opinion, more respect for the time and strength of the interlocutor.
5. I don’t know about other messengers, but in WhatsApp I have a problem with the received voice messages: when listening, if I even slightly change the position of the phone, the message is paused. Sometimes, while listening to a minute message, I have to press play 10 times to unpause. It is difficult to listen without changing the position of the phone. do not guess in advance what the volume level in the message will be (especially if it changes the volume of the speaker's voice) – i.e. you have to adjust the volume on the go or press the phone to your ear – and here it is extremely difficult not to change the position. And very often a stuck message cannot be heard from the point where it stopped playing. It just stalls, and you have to listen again, because it doesn't rewind to the right place … and how do I know where the right place is … I just listened, and did not see the text. These are the difficulties I do not want to create for my interlocutor.
6. And most importantly, for myself, I see no point in voice messages. If by voice, isn't it better to talk on the phone? '
An acquaintance Anna answered like this:
“If I’m on the subway, bus, or just walking down the street, I don’t listen to voice messages, I turn on only at home or in a place where it’s convenient to do it.”
When asked if such 'messages' annoyed her, Anna said no. Moreover, she herself sometimes uses such communication.
The rest of my friends answered in much the same way as Anna.
On my own I would like to add that voice messages greatly simplify my communication (yes, alas, not everyone likes it): a few seconds in a voice is equivalent to several minutes of typing on the smartphone keyboard, much more information is transmitted, and, most importantly, the mood of the message is transmitted instead of thousands of emoticons.
One more nuance. My wife is, to put it mildly, an inactive user of smartphones (it was only thanks to me that she switched from a push-button Nokia to a touchscreen one Android), and with the advent of a child, the time for 'communication' with the phone became even less. Therefore, she easily dictates messages with her voice, since for this you need to hold down just one button 🙂
How do you feel about voice messages, do you use it yourself and how often, what is the reaction of your friends or acquaintances?