WHY do people send voice memos? Gen Z says audio is more personal than text

Voice notes have become the new way of communicating, especially among Gen Z, who say sending audio is more personal than text, which can sometimes confuse meaning, and phone calls can trigger their anxiety.

Dubbed “voice notes” or “voice texts,” the messages are short audio recordings that people send to each other and have been featured on WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessages for years, but have recently seen a surge in popularity.

People are seeing them pop up in group chats more and more often, and even appearing on dating apps like Hinge and Bumble.

According to a recent YouGov poll conducted by Vox, 62 percent of Americans say they’ve sent a voice message, and about 30 percent communicate by voice message weekly, daily, or several times a day. And 43 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds who took part in the survey said they use the feature at least weekly.

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

There are several studies that have shown that people feel more socially connected when they communicate through a voice message rather than text messages.

“There’s a fundamental mode of communication that connects people and their social needs, and that’s hearing a voice,” Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas-Austin, told NPR.

HoweverAccording to Kumar, his research suggests that “asynchronous” forms of communication such as voice notes, which do not involve back-and-forth dialogue, cannot replace the benefits of “synchronous” calls, which allow us to pick up on spoken cues for a more seamless, more responsive one to have a conversation.

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

The audio feature can also be found on dating apps — first on Hinge in 2021, with the number of voice notes up 37 percent between January and February 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, a spokesperson told Axios.

As remote work continued, voice notes were added to work chat platforms, including Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Voice notes have continued to gain popularity over the past year, especially among the younger generation who grew up in front of screens.

Many Gen Zers say that the voice note allows for conveying tone and mood, which isn’t always possible in text. So why not just give someone a call? The idea of ​​interrupting someone with a phone call scares many people.

Instead, people can get out what they want to say without fear of being interrupted themselves.

The notes allow you to “say anything you want to say without being interrupted” and “let your mind flow,” Trinity Alicia, a 23-year-old program coordinator at Boston University, told Axios.

Alicia said she relies on voice memos to keep in touch with her boyfriend, who lives in a different time zone, as well as friends across the country.

Jim Broderick, a 22-year-old consultant in Washington, D.C., told Axios that with the voice memos, he tends to listen and pay attention more than when a group chat blows up his phone with texts he needs to read and analyze.

“This could get hot,” Broderick said when he received a voice memo. “It makes stories feel more real and I feel closer [the sender]. It just lands better when I hear someone’s voice.’

However, the form of communication has some disadvantages, such as listening and paying attention to long messages, which can be difficult when you are out and about in a busy area or in a meeting, or also tedious when you are recording hikes.

“I absolutely loathe when people use voice memos instead of plain old texting,” Talla Kuperman, a jewelry designer in her early 40s, told The Wall Street Journal.

After receiving lengthy voice memos, she thinks some are far too time-consuming as there is no universal etiquette for them. “I actually find it very selfish,” she said.

Like it or not, experts say there’s a scientific reason why people prefer voice messaging over text messaging in some situations.

By hearing someone’s voice, people can pick up “paralinguistic cues” that can’t be given via text, Vox reported. The cues can be speaking out loud if they are excited or a change in tone if conveying sarcasm.

“Although paralinguistic cues can be subtle, they are ‘humanizing’ reminders that whoever you’re listening to is ‘a thoughtful, soulful person,'” said Juliana Schroeder, a professor in UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Schroeder’s study found that people who listen to someone talk rather than read what they write perceive them to be “more mentally competent” — sensible, emotional, and personable.

It has also been shown that people are more likely to have “empathic accuracy” when they hear rather than read what they say and find the person more sympathetic.