Everything In Conversation: To Voice Note Or Not To Voice Note

From Everything Is Content by Beth, Ruchira & Oenone

May 13, 2026 · 23 min · Season 2 · Episode 160

About this episode

The episode discusses the rise of voice notes and their impact on conversation, featuring statistics and cultural comparisons.

Happy Wednesday EIChatters! To voice note or not to voice note, that is the question. In a piece for the Independent from the start of the year Helen Coffey explored whether a rise in voice notes has helped kill the art of conversation. She writes that despite being an initial sceptic about voice notes and finding them awkward and less useful than a phone call, she has since come around and become a primary source of communication in her circle. A 2025 survey commissioned by Sky Mobile found that 62% of voice note recipients had experienced ‘voice note fatigue’, and 20% said they’d personally received a voice note longer than 10 minutes. More than one in ten said they received over 10 voice notes a day, and 44% said they listened at double speed to get through them quicker.  There’s also apparently a geographical element to this that suggests the UK is actually lagging behind other countries in our adoption of recorded messages. A 2024 YouGov survey found that 48% of Indian respondents either preferred receiving voice notes or liked them just as much as texts, compared to just 18% of people in Great Britain.  We dive in with your help! We hope you enjoy, as always…

People in this episode

Hosts: Beth, Ruchira, Oenone

Topics covered

voice notes
communication
conversation
cultural differences
technology impact

Keywords

voice notes
conversation
communication
voice note fatigue
cultural differences

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sky Mobile, YouGov

Places: UK, India