Why we find it terrible to leave voicemails

Just that miserable beep that serves as a kind of starting signal for you to begin recording a message and which you can never adjust or retrieve again. Isn't that terrible? Imagine, you don't quite get your words out or your story is far too long-winded, then that's just too bad for you. Well, that's exactly why I hate recording voicemails, so I just don't do it anymore. Well, if I call my grandma for example, I might leave a voicemail, but otherwise I actually prefer not to call. I'd rather record voice memos, at least you get the chance to redo it, delete it and, as far as I'm concerned, the most important thing: you can listen back to yourself.

By the way, I'm not the only one who thinks this way, a study by Nottingham Trent University shows. It turned out that 85 percent of Generation Z (born between 1995 and 2010) no longer considers phone calls important and 75 percent of millennials (born between 1981 and 2000) even avoid them when possible. Voicemails are completely out of the question. But why does this make us (or at least me) so nervous?

Conflict coach Emma Jenkings explains to Metro UK that leaving voicemails is often difficult for everyone, not just for shy people. She explains it as follows: ‘When you call someone, you expect the other person to pick up before you have to explain the whole purpose of the call. You don't get a ‘warm-up’ and suddenly have to rush with a short summary of the conversation.’ According to Emma, this ‘surprise element’ causes discomfort. I completely understand this, that beep always surprises you, even if you know it's coming after someone's phone has been ringing endlessly. And even though there is no time limit on a voicemail, I always feel like I've suddenly landed in a Dragons’ Den pitch.

The research also showed (not entirely unexpectedly) that older generations prefer calling over young adults. This mainly has to do with the fact that young people want to decide for themselves when to respond. I completely understand that. Does this mean that voicemails will eventually disappear altogether or might there be a feature that allows you to delete or re-record them? But then it actually just comes down to a voice memo. Well, I think it's just a matter of time and that voicemail will eventually die out. will die out.