Is voice mail dead?

Voice mail is dying, said Farhad Manjoo in Slate. One thing killing it is Google Voice, “the search company's fantastic Web app that gives you a single number to connect all your phones and lets you make rules about who can call which phone when.” And every other way we invent to stay in touch—e-mail, instant messaging, Twitter—is proving “faster and more useful than leaving an audio message on someone’s phone.”

Phone messages aren’t dying, said John Biggs in Crunch Gear. They’re already dead—at least, they are to me. “I haven’t listened to a voice mail in years.” I’d much rather see an imperfect transcription of a phone message from Google Voice, Spinvox or some other service than have to listen to every droning message sitting in my in-box.

Some messages can be annoying, it’s true, said Kevin Purdy in Lifehacker. So if you’re sick of voice mail, don’t use it. That’s why there are all those services out there to help you deal with them. “Still, there are some things best said with your actual voice instead of emoticons.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up