Seriously, Listen to Your Voicemail

Note to Self

WNYC Studios

Self-improvement, Tech, Note, Npr, Education, Public, Wnyc, Manoush, York, To, New, Self, Radio, Business, Technology, Relationships, City, Society & Culture, Zomorodi, Newtechcity

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2015

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Find a 20-something, a 30-something and a 40-something. If you’re feeling especially experimental, add in a 70-something and a teenager. Say the word: “voicemail.” Watch what happens.

Voice messages — and the etiquette around them — are changing. Some people are rooting for voicemail to disappear completely from our communication repertoire.

"Typing and talking have an inverse relationship: as it's gotten easier to write your feelings, it's gotten more difficult to speak them."

Gizmodo writer Leslie Horn makes a powerful case for voicemail in an essay last year that we just loved. It... well, it stuck with us, and we really wanted to hear the voices she described. Because those scratch recordings buried in her phone's voicemail folder got her through the tough months after her father's death. "Voicemail is a default archive of your life. You would miss it if it were gone," she says.

So this week’s show is about the way listening can jog memories and emotions like nothing else. To that point, we'd really encourage you to listen to this one above even if you have read her post already. (You can listen by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes, or on Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.)

And when you’re done, leave us a voicemail! Our number is (917) 924-2964. Don't let our inbox look like this:

Give us a call and tell us your story. (New Tech City

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello friend, this is an episode of Note to Self, but from when we used to be called New Text City.
0:07.0	Same good content, just the old name. Enjoy.
0:10.0	At the tone, please record your message.
0:19.0	From WNYC, this is New Text City, where digital gets personal. I'm Manouche Semarodi.
0:31.0	We're working our little public radio tails off on a really big project that I'm going to officially announce on next week's show.
0:39.0	I am extremely pumped and nervous about this. So this week's show is going to be on the shorter side, because I'm, you know, I got to like think about this big project that's coming up, okay?
0:50.0	This week's show is about thinking aloud, using your voice to explain yourself.
0:56.0	And we listening can jog memories and emotions like nothing else can.
1:01.0	One of my favorite blog posts of 2014 was written by Leslie Horn for the website is Motto.
1:08.0	I could not stop thinking about it. It was so good.
1:12.0	So I invited Leslie into our studio to record an audio version of her piece called Your Wrong About Voicemail.
1:21.0	Hey, bud. This is a dead, uh, returning your call. I was in the middle of the night.
1:25.0	Hey, it's me. I swear I'm not sure you've been forget about me.
1:27.0	Um, I have a few. Grandma calling.
1:30.0	Uh, just wanted to say hi. I missed your call.
1:33.0	How you feel about voicemail is largely generational.
1:36.0	People who haven't hit 40 don't get why their parents and other old don't just text.
1:41.0	Or let a missed call speak for itself.
1:43.0	In some cases, it's an argument of etiquette.
1:46.0	I think you're not picking out this efficient reason for me to punish you with voicemail.
1:50.0	Let's hear you.
1:51.0	One side says voicemail is obnoxious.
	...

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