Death Of Voicemail

The New York Times pointed to a thought piece that I wrote last May about the death of voicemail. In the piece I wrote about how visual voicemail was stopping people from checking their mail (as they could see who had called pretty easily with phones like the iPhone):

If you don’t have visual mail then I pity you – you have to take time out to listen to your voicemail messages one by one. Every one a surprise. Not exactly a modern way to access information. Voicemail feels like it was a technology that was created to fill a gap – until something better came along. And now it has: Sure, ring me but there’s no need to leave a message – I’ll know you called and if you want to tell me something then the emerging modern etiquette evolving is you should just text or email me – not leave a voice message.

The New York Times story has a similar theme:

When it was introduced in the early 1980s, voice mail was hailed as a miracle invention — a boon to office productivity and a godsend to busy households. Hollywood screenwriters incorporated it into plotlines: Distraught heroine comes home, sees blinking red light, listens as desperate suitor begs for another chance to make it all right. Beep!

But in an age of instant information gratification, the burden of having to hit the playback button — or worse, dial in to a mailbox and enter a pass code — and sit through “ums” and “ahs” can seem too much to bear.

Many dread the process or, like Mr. Hamrick, avoid it altogether, raising the question: is voice mail on its way to becoming obsolete?

New York Times