Are voice notes a fun alternative to texting – or simply a waste of time? 

More and more, people are abandoning the traditional text message for voice notes, both for convenience and fun. 

Irish Examiner columnist Esther McCarthy is a voice note convert who recently said she would “happily suck your soul out through your phone for four minutes instead of tapping out a response that would take less than four seconds”. 

She told Newstalk Breakfast a good voice note should be “fun, fast and informative”. 

“Three words that don’t describe mine to be fair,” she said. 

The writer defended the art of voice notes, arguing they are convenient for anyone on the go who still has a lot to say. 

She said she listens to voice notes most often when she’s in the car with her children and she can’t pick up the phone. 

Ms McCarthy noted that voice notes only work if you have friends who are actually worth listening to.

“I'm so lucky I have very funny people in my contact list – I'd be breaking down, drinking my tears,” she said. 

“It’s like your own mini-podcast of people you know and love.” 

Advantages of a voice note

If a ‘podcast’ is dragging on too long, Ms McCarthy pointed out, you can now fast forward voice notes on most social media apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. 

“If they're being a bit of a pain in the arse you can just fast-forward them,” she said. 

“You can put them on top speed – when in real life can you ever put a boring old fart on top speed? 

“There's nothing not to love – plus my kids hate them.” 

Presenter Ciara Kelly pointed out that voice notes can be a ‘waste of time’ if someone is simply looking for a yes-or-no answer to a text. 

Ms McCarthy argued part of the appeal of these audio messages is that the receiver can listen whenever they want. 

“You could ring someone, and it will be 17 hours later and you're going, ‘Ah, Jesus’ and they’re cooking the dinner,” she said. 

“Whereas [with a voice note], you can send me one, I can send you one – they can listen to it when they want and don’t have me interrupting them. 

“It's just this lovely connection I have with people I wouldn’t normally pick up the phone for.” 

Co-presenter Jonathan Healy is firmly against audio messages – but he said learning you can fast-forward messages is a bit of a “game changer”. 

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