Why do people send voice notes? Generation Z says voice is more personal than text

• Voice notes are short audio recordings that people send to each other
• A recent survey revealed that 62% of Americans send voice messages, and nearly 30% communicate by voice message weekly, daily, or multiple times a day.

Voice notes have become the new way to communicate, especially among Generation Z, who say sending voice is more personal than texts, which can sometimes blur meaning, and phone calls can make them anxious.

Messages, called “voice notes” or “audio texts,” are short audio recordings that people send each other, and they’ve been in WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessages for years, but have recently grown in popularity.

People are seeing them more and more in group chats and even being featured on dating apps, like Hinge and Bumble.

According to another YouGov poll conducted by Vox, 62 percent of Americans say they have sent voice messages, and nearly 30 percent communicate by voice message weekly, daily, or multiple times a day. And 43 percent of the 18- to 29-year-olds who responded to the survey said they use the feature at least weekly.

The use of voice memos technology may have been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic when people isolated at home craved social interaction by hearing the voices of their loved ones.

There are many studies that have shown that people You feel more socially connected when you communicate through a voice message rather than a text message.

“There is a fundamental method of communication that connects humans to their social needs, and that is phonics,” Amit Kumar, assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, told NPR.

butKumar says his research suggests that “asynchronous” forms of communication such as voice notes, which do not include back-and-forth dialogue, cannot replace the advantages of “synchronous” calls that allow us to pick up on language cues for a more fluid and responsive conversation.

WhatsApp, which has been using voice notes for years, said last year that users sent 7 billion voice messages on the app.

The audio feature is also starting to appear on dating apps – first on Hinge in 2021, with the number of voice notes increasing by 37 per cent between January and February 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, a spokesperson said. Axios.

As remote work continues, voice notes have been added to work chat platforms incl Slack and Microsoft Teams.

The popularity of voice notes has continued to rise over the past year, especially with the younger generation who have grown up in front of screens.

Many Gen Zers say that a voice memo allows for tone and mood, which isn’t always the case in a text. So why not contact someone? The thought of interrupting someone with a phone call creates a lot of anxiety.

Instead, people are able to tell what they want to say without worrying about interrupting themselves.

Notes allow you to output “whatever you want to say without interruption” and “let your thoughts flow,” Trinity Alicia, 23, a program coordinator at Boston University, told Axios.

Alicia said she relies on the voice notes to keep in touch with her boyfriend who lives in another time zone, as well as friends around the country.

Jim Broderick, a 22-year-old who works in consulting in Washington, D.C., told Axios that with voice notes, he’s more inclined to listen and pay attention than when a group chat bombs his phone with texts for him to do. Read and analyze.

“This can be spicy,” Broderick said when he received a voice note. It makes the stories feel more real, and I feel closer to them [the sender]. It lands better when I can hear someone’s voice.

However, there are some downsides to the form of communication, such as having to listen and pay attention to long messages, which can be difficult if you’re on your way in a crowded area or in a meeting, or can also be tedious if recording outings are on.

“I absolutely hate it when people use voice notes over just plain old text messages,” Tala Cooperman, a jewelry designer in her early 40s, told the Wall Street Journal.

After receiving lengthy voice notes, she believes some of them are taking too long in the absence of general etiquette. “I actually find it very selfish,” she said.

Like it or not, experts say there is a scientific reason why people prefer voice messages over texts in some situations.

By hearing someone’s voice, people can pick up Vox reported that “non-linguistic cues” that cannot be made via text. Signals can include speaking loudly when they are excited or changing their tone if they are conveying sarcasm.

While non-verbal cues can be subtle, they are a “human” reminder that whoever you’re listening to “is a thoughtful and poetic person,” said Juliana Schroeder, a professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Schroeder study She finds that when people listen to someone speak rather than read their writing, they see them as more of a “brainpower”—logical, emotional, and likeable.

It has also been shown that people are more inclined to be “empathically accurate” when they hear rather than read what they have to say, which makes the person more relatable.