Voicemail R.I.P.

Voicemail R.I.P.

See that big red button...95% more likely for me to hit it than the green one...
See that big red button...95% more likely for me to hit it than the green one...

Boston.com has an interesting article today entitled “At the tone, please don’t leave a message” heralding the death of voicemail.

In an age of ever-speedier communications, a growing number of people are unwilling to endure voice mail’s shortcomings. Some can’t stand the endless prompts just to hear a longwinded – and often pointless – message. (Hi, it’s me. Why aren’t you picking up? I’ll call you later.) Others dislike voice mails that can’t be searched, easily forwarded, or surreptitiously played during a meeting or lecture. And on the off chance a message does contain key information, it’s often left at the end of a ramble and spoken rapidly, forcing the recipient to listen all over again. And then write it down, of course.

Time for a bit of utter truth here: I hate voicemail.  I ignore it.  I rarely, if ever, listen to them.  People occassionally will tell me “hey, did you know your voicemail is full?” The short answer to that is “yes, that is purely intentional.  The only reason it is full is that ATT doesn’t allow me to turn it off altogether.”

Leaving a voicemail for me is second only to calling me at home on my landline on my “reasons I probably won’t be talking to you on a phone anytime in the near future” list.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *