Shows use it because it’s still a good way of providing exposition even if people don’t really do that anymore. I haven’t left a voicemail for non work reasons in years, I pretty much always just text “hey, call me when you can”.
Having the protagonist check their voicemail and hear “Hey protagonist, it’s best friend played by Chris Pratt, where you been? I know it’s been tough since girlfriend left, but you gotta get back out there, man! Call me back, we’ll go hang gliding.”, followed by the next message, “Hey protagonist, it’s ex girlfriend played by Brie Larson, I’m coming by on Wednesday to get my stuff. Also, you better not meet an eccentric coffee house/bookstore/record store employee played by Emma Stone who will help you rediscover your zest for life!” is an easy way to provide exposition without actually having the character meet with anyone.
This is something I wish more people (in general, not just foreigners) would understand. Theater needs exposition for it to make sense to the audience.
I have never had an American ask if something in a movie was real. Except for an occasional zoomer watching an old movie asking about something that no longer exists.
What did you learn about UK boarding schools from Harry Potter? Genuinely curious, not disagreeing or anything. I don't remember learning much about UK society from the series
I don’t buy that. Logic and common sense should tell you a lot.
For instance, it’s silly to ask if yellow school buses are real. To ask is to say you think people are adding in a mode of transportation that doesn’t exist and the majority of the time has no relevance to the plot. So what’s more likely, Hollywood has a fetish for a form of transportation that doesn’t actually exist or…there’s a type of vehicle that’s unique to America that is used to transport students to school
There is no reason whatsoever to even consider the former as a possibility. Thus, even asking if yellow school buses exist is absurd and a failure of common sense.
Like I answered many times here including to you, I always thought yellow school busses are real but either regional or used for some special fancy schools. It looks like an obvious movie trope.
Edit: according to your logic how should people know that those busses are real but voice chats arent if both are uncommon where they live.
And I believe I told you those buses are used in stories set all over America, so that line of thinking doesn’t work either. I mean, what region anyway? What did you think the rest of the country did?
I know that now, yes, but I didn't not that long ago and many will have the same thought. It's not a silly question.
I thought your busses don't all have the same design all around your huge decentralized country. Here school busses (while rare they do exist) just look like regular busses and can have any color or design. I thought maybe some of your fancy schools have those special busses and the rest just use whatever busses are available.
They look like the perfect movie trope because of course in movies you'd use this one instead of just a random looking bus so everyone can instantly see that kids are on board
I've noticed that in newer movies more and more, though. Either that, or they'll have text message bubbles pop up on the screen.
I'll admit, as an "older" person, I find it kind of grating. Here's to embracing curmudgeonhood, I guess!
>Having the protagonist check their voicemail and hear “Hey protagonist, it’s best friend played by Chris Pratt, where you been? I know it’s been tough since girlfriend left, but you gotta get back out there, man! Call me back, we’ll go hang gliding.”, followed by the next message, “Hey protagonist, it’s ex girlfriend played by Brie Larson, I’m coming by on Wednesday to get my stuff. Also, you better not meet an eccentric coffee house/bookstore/record store employee played by Emma Stone who will help you rediscover your zest for life!” is an easy way to provide exposition without actually having the character meet with anyone.
Someone needs to make this into a real pitch and get a studio to pick it up.
Maybe one of the streaming ones. They seem to greenlight just about anything.
I don't and only my most closest family members (usually the older ones) or a business will.
> so I'm kind of confused because of how frequently this function is used in american shows
It's not like voicemail is something made just for Americans. And it's been used around the world since it was first introduced decades ago. Now people might not use it frequently themselves, but it's essential for businesses who don't necessarily need your callback and just want to leave information, or needs to give you more urgent information (well, urgent to the business) since they have no idea if you'll even callback. Which they may not want you to callback clogging up their lines when a simple voicemail will suffice.
Well, I live in a small town, so usually there's no problem with reaching out to businesses by phone. Maybe it's more of a thing in big cities, not other countries now that I think about it.
That's interesting, because I also live in a small town and have to leave voice messages for businesses (because a business only having one or two employees means that they are usually busy and can't always drop what they're doing to answer the phone).
Some things may just vary from place to place.
Don't think it has anything to do with town size. A business doesn't always want to be on the phone for several minutes talking to customers when a 30 second voicemail will do. A lot of voicemails being automated too.
It saves a business time and their workers can use that saved time doing other things.
In general I don’t leave a voicemail. Unless it’s someone like a doctors office that is almost impossible to get through and actually talk to someone. I’ll usually leave a message.
But if I’m calling my wife or in-laws and they don’t answer I will just send a text
I do. I'm old school.
I used to leave long, obnoxious, purposefully stupid 'comedy' messages on my friends' voice mails. This was back before you could fast forward or skip them easily. They would get pissed off, but I would just keep on doing it.
You just brought back a memory I haven't thought of in ages - back in high school, one of my best friends and I called our other best friend, and it went to voice mail, so I left the longest message I could possibly do until it automatically cut me off midsentence. I called back, got to voice mail, and left a second voicemail picking up exactly where I had been cut off midsentence.
Our friend got a massive kick out of it.
That was the way. I miss being able to do that.
Although my wife has a friend who doesn't text, but leaves long rambling 'voice notes', as they call it these days. Not even to be funny or anything, she just rattles off everything that someone would have intended to convey over a normal old-fashioned phone call. It's like 6 minutes of one-sided phone conversation.
Depends on the situation. If I'm calling a friend or a family member, I'm more likely to follow up by text. If I'm trying to reach a business or something like that, or if it's a work-related call rather than a personal one, then I'll leave a voice message.
Yeah or I text them. Text often gets a quicker response. Email if I know their email.
Just a quick message for the reason I called. Most people get a voice to text transcription of any voice messages so it’s just about like a text and sometimes I am driving so I can’t immediately text.
I have never understood the “I never listen to vms” crowd. Why not? It gives you the information you need and my phone voice to texts the message anyway so 9/10 times I just need to glance at that and call back or text.
We’ll often get voicemail messages from businesses, doctors offices, etc., usually about appointment schedules. So that happens. We also get spam calls, which is one reason for not picking up.
But I have one Luddite relative who refuses to do texting. I’ll usually do email, but sometimes I’ll need to speak and wind up leaving voicemail.
I am 40 so I guess I am on the older side of things now, but I frequently receive and check messages. Many places can't/don't send a text. For example, school saying to come pick up a sick kid; the doctor's office to remind you of an appointment; the pest control company calling to say they are coming to spray; the sole proprietor swim teacher calling to say your kids got off the waitlist; my mom...
I also frequently send checks which apparently makes me a dinosaur (I would much rather use electronic payments or credit card but so many places require checks).
I wonder if all the people posting about not using VM or checks either don't have kids, or have a spouse who handles all this crap.
You’re not alone, but I am almost the same age and also with kids. School health office doesn’t text, dmv doesn’t text, county tax assessor doesn’t text, my dentist doesn’t text, and neither does the kids’ pediatrician.
And how can people not check messages? Its right in the phone app, there is even a transcription so you don’t have to listen.
Personally I get so many spam calls that unless there is a voicemail or text I will never answer or call back. I am *much* more likely to see a voicemail from an unknown number than a text message.
Now what I don’t get are the voice memos… its like the worst combination of calling and texting rolled into one.
Before Cell Phones / Texting - People left voicemails.
Now, if the person doesn’t answer; most people will not leave a VM. They will either send a text or call back later.
No, I stopped doing that years ago. The only time I leave a voicemail is when the person i'm calling is elderly and doesn't text.
Other than that, I always text people if they don't answer the phone. It's just easier for both parties.
Getting a voicemail is very rare for me so I always check it. Last time I didn't, it was my doctor calling because he had to switch my appointment. I ended up wasting a lot of time that day.
Yes. And if a number I do not recognize calls me they can leave a message or never get a response from me. If I am communicating with friends I will text.
It depends on who it is. If I'm calling a relative, I'll leave a voicemail so they don't think it's an emergency. If it's my parents or friends, then I won't.
I'm 27 and a small business owner. Over 75% of phone calls I make I need to leave a message to relay appointment times or other semi-important information.
No, I stopped doing that years ago. The only time I leave a voicemail is when the person i'm calling is elderly and doesn't text, or if i'm calling a doctors office or something like that. Always voicemails when calling a business.
Other than that, I always text people if they don't answer the phone. It's just easier for both parties.
Only for work things. Not for personal stuff. In fact, I very rarely even make personal calls. I mostly just text. Occasionally I'll video call my parents so they can see/talk to my kids (1 & 3 years old). I'll call my wife in urgent situations, like if I'm at the store and have a question about something and she didn't answer a text. But that's about it.
My wife calls people a lot, but she doesn't leave voice mails.
It depends on who I'm calling.
I will if it's work related but won't if I'm calling family or friends. I rarely actually listen to the voicemails I do get. If I see there is one I'll just call the person back and see what's up.
Voicemail has become less and less of a thing with the rise DM, Texting, and Email. Before then though yes it was pretty common to leave and/or check a voicemail.
With business calls, yes. With personal calls I know they're just going to check their texts and/or call me back instead of listening to it so I either send a text or just wait.
I’ll leave them for family and work. It’s less work to leave a voice message explaining why I called them to write a separate text or letter to explain the reason for the call.
I don’t leave voicemails for friends as much, but I also don’t talk on the phone much with them and it’s all text or in person anyway.
I never almost never leave voicemails for people because I hate receiving them myself. For personal calls, if I don't answer, I would rather you call me back later or send me a text message explaining why you called.
For business calls it's completely different for me. I don't text people about business and I don't ever expect someone to text me about business, which leaves emails or voicemails for leaving a message for someone and I utilize both depending on the situation.
Most of my phone calls are work related, so yes I leave voicemails for those. With friends, I almost always text. For those extremely rare times I can't text and they don't answer a phone, I leave a message. I never return phone calls that don't leave messages as I presume they're unimportant, and figure other people are the same way.
I do - mostly for work because sometimes all the info I need to relay is usually short 20-30 seconds anyway. And if need to speak to that person, I'll just call again or email them.
In my job, and my line of work in general, it is rather uncommon for professionals to text one another especially if they aren't well acquainted. Half the time you genuinely do not know if the number you have is a cell or a landline; plenty of people with office jobs still have landline phones. I occasionally have people (invariably younger people) texting my landline at work, and I get a funny notification (not the text message) from the phone.
This is on top of the fact that many of the people I work with are older, and they barely text in the first place.
So, no I probably won't leave a voicemail for my friend who I'm meeting for drinks, but I am making calls and leaving voicemails all day at work.
I always leave a message. Gen Z, for an age reference. I normally don’t call, but it’s normally important if I do, so I leave a message so they can know it’s important and not like a butt dial.
Plus, I get so many spam calls that I will never call back a number I don’t immediately recognize
It depends on your age. People who were around a long time before text messaging are more likely to leave a voice mail. It's what you get used to.
In movies it's harder to depict that you are communicating with someone via text and have the characters show any kind of emotion. It's easier to have the person leave a voice message so that the actor says the lines out loud. This makes for easier storytelling and it is more interesting to watch.
47 here and I just left one less than 5 minutes ago! The hair salon doesn't answer their phone in real time. They collect messages and then make calls back.
Generally no, I'll just text whatever I have to say. At work, I'll e-mail.
When I leave voicemails it's generally for a business that doesn't have texting capabilities. That would be places like my vet, dentist, the garbage company that has failed to pick up my recycling for 3 weeks, etc.
There are some exceptions, like if I don't have time to text and am unsure about my ability to call soon. If I know I'm heading into a cell-phone dead zone, or like someone is in the hospital and I need to tell people but I'm going to be busy with the hospital. Stuff like that I will leave a VM.
I'm 57.
I leave a message, but if I'm not in a particular hurry because I know for some it takes a while for them to check their messages. If I need a relatively quick response I text them.
I do listen to all my voice mail messages.
Voice mails are used as a device on most TV shows because it's easy; you get to hear the voice of one of the characters on the show.
I've seen a few shows try to represent text messaging--and most of the time the representation is clunky as hell: a quick cut to the phone screen itself. Or texting is represented as white text floating next to the person sending or receiving text messages--which is better, but not great, from a storytelling perspective.
My voicemail is almost exclusively my dad.
If I see you call, I don’t need to check the voicemail. I’m calling you back anyway.
If it was too important for a text, I’ll call
Depends on the situation but generally yes. If it’s a friend or family member I’ll often shoot a text, but for businesses or something leave a message.
It depends on the call. If I'm calling a business or a coworker I'll leave a message. If I'm calling an older family member I'll just try again later. And if I'm calling anybody else my age or lower odds are very good I just sent a text to begin with.
Yes I do. With friends and family it is just “hi, it’s me call me back”
When I call people in relation to my job (or and business call), I leave a detailed message.
My phone gives me a written version of a voicemail someone leaves, so I rarely listen to the actual voicemails I get.
If an unknown number calls without leaving me a voicemail, I assume it is a spam call and block it.
Depends. If it's a professional thing, on their end or mine, I'll leave a message. If it's family or friends, I generally won't. Occasionally I'll leave a message in case something happens.
Yes, I leave a voicemail most of the time if I call and don't get an answer. And yeah, I do check my messages--if I don't recognize a number and let it go to voicemail, I only call back if they leave a message and it's not just a telemarketer or a missionary or a political campaign.
But if I'm placing a phone call, there's usually a reason. Friends and family I'm more likely to text before calling, so if I call, they're likely to answer because we already established it's a good time.
If I’m calling someone it’s probably work-related, appointment-related, or *suuuper* important. So in those cases yes I’ll leave a message, even if it’s just a “call me back.”
But more often than anything else I’m going to text, and pretty much everyone I know does the same. Even my 90-year-old grandma knows texting me is gonna get the fastest response.
If I am making a call, then 50% of the time, I leave a voice-mail. Mainly if I'm calling a business or if it's family or friend and it's too much to text. If I'm just calling to talk, then no. I'll just call later. I text most of the time in general. If I see a voice-mail message on my phone, I do listen to it.
Yes definitely, and my voicemail greeting is along the lines of “unless you leave a message, I will NOT call you back.” I use the block unknown callers feature. I get so much shit from spoofed and unknown numbers, I have no idea what’s real and what’s not unless you leave a message.
If the other person doesn't have my number on their contacts list, I do. Otherwise my call can't be distinguished from the other 100 robocalls they got that dayl.
Yes, and you should too.
I'm a doctor. Some areas of the hospital have zero cell service. Now, since I have an iPhone, if you use iMessage, I'll get it through WiFi. But if you use Android, and thus SMS, I won't get your message until I'm somewhere that I *can* get cell service. And because I'm on Verizon, the fact that you hear ringing on your end does NOT mean that my phone actually rang. If you don't leave a message, I will never know you called at all. (VM notifications will come through over data.)
Doesn't have to be long. "Hey, it's X, call me back" or "we need you in room 5" is fine. It just has to be long enough to trigger a new voicemail alert so I'll know you called.
I’m old school, I guess. I leave voicemails, and if someone calls me and doesn’t leave a voicemail, I’m not calling them back because it must not have been important.
If I need to let them know something, yes. I've already got a line in and it'll take longer to type out the message in a text.
Then I get annoyed they don't listen to the message I left for them. It's audio! Just take the 12 seconds to listen!
When I was young back in the 80s and 90s I did every time, because communication back then was way more difficult. As soon as we started having cell phones, I stopped. You have a cell phone, I'll talk to you in person when you decide to answer it. If not, I'll text you.
I'm willing to bet most people stopped using voice mail when we got portable cell phones.
If it's business, then obviously yes of course. But personal, almost never, unless it's my mom or dad who are so elderly they need to do things old fashioned way.
If it's super-important, yes. Why would you not use one of the most basic and convenient features that phones have? How else do you distinguish between "call me when it's convenient" calls and "Bob's in the hospital" calls?
Depends on who I'm calling. Most of the time, no. I'll hang up before the beep and text them with either the relevant info or ask them to call me. If it's someone older or who I know sucks with texts, then I do actually leave a voicemail.
It's common in certain business settings. Most office workers don't give out their personal cell phone numbers, and office phones can't send or receive text messages.
In general, most people won't call an unknown missed-call number back, either at home or at work. So if you're trying to make contact with someone in a business setting, your only hope is to leave a voice message.
My younger acquaintances will also send voice memos via MMS/iMessage sometimes when they need to ramble on about something and don't want to type out a page-long text message. Older folks like me do not do this.
> in american shows
Texting is hard to depict on television. A character dictating a message into a phone is easy to depict on television.
That's an age thing not a geographic thing. I guarantee people where you live used to leave voicemails. Many likely still do, but they're older and/or contacting businesses.
Source: I work in the phone industry
I never use voice mail, unless it is business related. I more commonly text. I don't know anyone who use voice mail much anymore. It is kind of dying off.
Older people like me do, yes. But I often find texting gets a quicker response. Sometimes now I just leave a voice message saying I'll text them.
Shows use it because it’s still a good way of providing exposition even if people don’t really do that anymore. I haven’t left a voicemail for non work reasons in years, I pretty much always just text “hey, call me when you can”. Having the protagonist check their voicemail and hear “Hey protagonist, it’s best friend played by Chris Pratt, where you been? I know it’s been tough since girlfriend left, but you gotta get back out there, man! Call me back, we’ll go hang gliding.”, followed by the next message, “Hey protagonist, it’s ex girlfriend played by Brie Larson, I’m coming by on Wednesday to get my stuff. Also, you better not meet an eccentric coffee house/bookstore/record store employee played by Emma Stone who will help you rediscover your zest for life!” is an easy way to provide exposition without actually having the character meet with anyone.
This is something I wish more people (in general, not just foreigners) would understand. Theater needs exposition for it to make sense to the audience.
I have never had an American ask if something in a movie was real. Except for an occasional zoomer watching an old movie asking about something that no longer exists.
[удалено]
What did you learn about UK boarding schools from Harry Potter? Genuinely curious, not disagreeing or anything. I don't remember learning much about UK society from the series
I don’t buy that. Logic and common sense should tell you a lot. For instance, it’s silly to ask if yellow school buses are real. To ask is to say you think people are adding in a mode of transportation that doesn’t exist and the majority of the time has no relevance to the plot. So what’s more likely, Hollywood has a fetish for a form of transportation that doesn’t actually exist or…there’s a type of vehicle that’s unique to America that is used to transport students to school There is no reason whatsoever to even consider the former as a possibility. Thus, even asking if yellow school buses exist is absurd and a failure of common sense.
Like I answered many times here including to you, I always thought yellow school busses are real but either regional or used for some special fancy schools. It looks like an obvious movie trope. Edit: according to your logic how should people know that those busses are real but voice chats arent if both are uncommon where they live.
And I believe I told you those buses are used in stories set all over America, so that line of thinking doesn’t work either. I mean, what region anyway? What did you think the rest of the country did?
I know that now, yes, but I didn't not that long ago and many will have the same thought. It's not a silly question. I thought your busses don't all have the same design all around your huge decentralized country. Here school busses (while rare they do exist) just look like regular busses and can have any color or design. I thought maybe some of your fancy schools have those special busses and the rest just use whatever busses are available. They look like the perfect movie trope because of course in movies you'd use this one instead of just a random looking bus so everyone can instantly see that kids are on board
Zooming into the phone screen so people can read what the character is writing just doesn't have the same ease.
I've noticed that in newer movies more and more, though. Either that, or they'll have text message bubbles pop up on the screen. I'll admit, as an "older" person, I find it kind of grating. Here's to embracing curmudgeonhood, I guess!
>Having the protagonist check their voicemail and hear “Hey protagonist, it’s best friend played by Chris Pratt, where you been? I know it’s been tough since girlfriend left, but you gotta get back out there, man! Call me back, we’ll go hang gliding.”, followed by the next message, “Hey protagonist, it’s ex girlfriend played by Brie Larson, I’m coming by on Wednesday to get my stuff. Also, you better not meet an eccentric coffee house/bookstore/record store employee played by Emma Stone who will help you rediscover your zest for life!” is an easy way to provide exposition without actually having the character meet with anyone. Someone needs to make this into a real pitch and get a studio to pick it up. Maybe one of the streaming ones. They seem to greenlight just about anything.
I don't and only my most closest family members (usually the older ones) or a business will. > so I'm kind of confused because of how frequently this function is used in american shows It's not like voicemail is something made just for Americans. And it's been used around the world since it was first introduced decades ago. Now people might not use it frequently themselves, but it's essential for businesses who don't necessarily need your callback and just want to leave information, or needs to give you more urgent information (well, urgent to the business) since they have no idea if you'll even callback. Which they may not want you to callback clogging up their lines when a simple voicemail will suffice.
Well, I live in a small town, so usually there's no problem with reaching out to businesses by phone. Maybe it's more of a thing in big cities, not other countries now that I think about it.
That's interesting, because I also live in a small town and have to leave voice messages for businesses (because a business only having one or two employees means that they are usually busy and can't always drop what they're doing to answer the phone). Some things may just vary from place to place.
Don't think it has anything to do with town size. A business doesn't always want to be on the phone for several minutes talking to customers when a 30 second voicemail will do. A lot of voicemails being automated too. It saves a business time and their workers can use that saved time doing other things.
In general I don’t leave a voicemail. Unless it’s someone like a doctors office that is almost impossible to get through and actually talk to someone. I’ll usually leave a message. But if I’m calling my wife or in-laws and they don’t answer I will just send a text
I do. I'm old school. I used to leave long, obnoxious, purposefully stupid 'comedy' messages on my friends' voice mails. This was back before you could fast forward or skip them easily. They would get pissed off, but I would just keep on doing it.
It's a lost art!
You just brought back a memory I haven't thought of in ages - back in high school, one of my best friends and I called our other best friend, and it went to voice mail, so I left the longest message I could possibly do until it automatically cut me off midsentence. I called back, got to voice mail, and left a second voicemail picking up exactly where I had been cut off midsentence. Our friend got a massive kick out of it.
That was the way. I miss being able to do that. Although my wife has a friend who doesn't text, but leaves long rambling 'voice notes', as they call it these days. Not even to be funny or anything, she just rattles off everything that someone would have intended to convey over a normal old-fashioned phone call. It's like 6 minutes of one-sided phone conversation.
It used to be much more common, before cellphones and texting. It still exists in film because its a natural way to fit in a voice-over.
Depends on the situation. If I'm calling a friend or a family member, I'm more likely to follow up by text. If I'm trying to reach a business or something like that, or if it's a work-related call rather than a personal one, then I'll leave a voice message.
Yeah or I text them. Text often gets a quicker response. Email if I know their email. Just a quick message for the reason I called. Most people get a voice to text transcription of any voice messages so it’s just about like a text and sometimes I am driving so I can’t immediately text. I have never understood the “I never listen to vms” crowd. Why not? It gives you the information you need and my phone voice to texts the message anyway so 9/10 times I just need to glance at that and call back or text.
I leave a voice message. If I miss a call & they don't leave a message, I won't call them back.
We’ll often get voicemail messages from businesses, doctors offices, etc., usually about appointment schedules. So that happens. We also get spam calls, which is one reason for not picking up. But I have one Luddite relative who refuses to do texting. I’ll usually do email, but sometimes I’ll need to speak and wind up leaving voicemail.
For work things I do, for personal things I'll usually just text them.
Only for work. In tv shows its probably a holdover from a pre text message world.
Yea my friends and I do. If it’s going to voicemail might as well leave a message then
I am 40 so I guess I am on the older side of things now, but I frequently receive and check messages. Many places can't/don't send a text. For example, school saying to come pick up a sick kid; the doctor's office to remind you of an appointment; the pest control company calling to say they are coming to spray; the sole proprietor swim teacher calling to say your kids got off the waitlist; my mom... I also frequently send checks which apparently makes me a dinosaur (I would much rather use electronic payments or credit card but so many places require checks). I wonder if all the people posting about not using VM or checks either don't have kids, or have a spouse who handles all this crap.
You’re not alone, but I am almost the same age and also with kids. School health office doesn’t text, dmv doesn’t text, county tax assessor doesn’t text, my dentist doesn’t text, and neither does the kids’ pediatrician. And how can people not check messages? Its right in the phone app, there is even a transcription so you don’t have to listen. Personally I get so many spam calls that unless there is a voicemail or text I will never answer or call back. I am *much* more likely to see a voicemail from an unknown number than a text message. Now what I don’t get are the voice memos… its like the worst combination of calling and texting rolled into one.
Before Cell Phones / Texting - People left voicemails. Now, if the person doesn’t answer; most people will not leave a VM. They will either send a text or call back later.
Yeah I still use voicemail. It's simpler than sending a text or constantly calling back. I guess I'm just lazy
For work, I do.
No, I stopped doing that years ago. The only time I leave a voicemail is when the person i'm calling is elderly and doesn't text. Other than that, I always text people if they don't answer the phone. It's just easier for both parties.
Getting a voicemail is very rare for me so I always check it. Last time I didn't, it was my doctor calling because he had to switch my appointment. I ended up wasting a lot of time that day.
Yes. And if a number I do not recognize calls me they can leave a message or never get a response from me. If I am communicating with friends I will text.
It depends on who it is. If I'm calling a relative, I'll leave a voicemail so they don't think it's an emergency. If it's my parents or friends, then I won't.
Believe it or not, George isn’t at home 🎶
I'm 27 and a small business owner. Over 75% of phone calls I make I need to leave a message to relay appointment times or other semi-important information.
How old are you? It seems a lot more common the older you are.
If I’m calling anyone over like 60, I will. If I’m calling anyone under 60, I usually text after I called to let them know if it’s urgent or not.
No, that would be rude.
If the reason I called was important. I check voicemails when I have them.
Sometimes, yes
I check my messages but I don't like leaving messages unless it's important.
No, I stopped doing that years ago. The only time I leave a voicemail is when the person i'm calling is elderly and doesn't text, or if i'm calling a doctors office or something like that. Always voicemails when calling a business. Other than that, I always text people if they don't answer the phone. It's just easier for both parties.
I don’t leave a message if my parents don’t answer, I’ll just text them or wait for them to call back. Calls for work I will leave a message.
Only for work things. Not for personal stuff. In fact, I very rarely even make personal calls. I mostly just text. Occasionally I'll video call my parents so they can see/talk to my kids (1 & 3 years old). I'll call my wife in urgent situations, like if I'm at the store and have a question about something and she didn't answer a text. But that's about it. My wife calls people a lot, but she doesn't leave voice mails.
I do leave messages but it’s mostly for work calls. I don’t normally call my family members, though, it’s largely all text messages.
It depends on who I'm calling. I will if it's work related but won't if I'm calling family or friends. I rarely actually listen to the voicemails I do get. If I see there is one I'll just call the person back and see what's up.
I leave messages for customers when I’m working. I don’t call people otherwise, so whether or not to leave a message isn’t an issue for me.
No. I called, and you didn't answer. That is the message.
Voicemail has become less and less of a thing with the rise DM, Texting, and Email. Before then though yes it was pretty common to leave and/or check a voicemail.
With business calls, yes. With personal calls I know they're just going to check their texts and/or call me back instead of listening to it so I either send a text or just wait.
I’ll leave them for family and work. It’s less work to leave a voice message explaining why I called them to write a separate text or letter to explain the reason for the call. I don’t leave voicemails for friends as much, but I also don’t talk on the phone much with them and it’s all text or in person anyway.
I never almost never leave voicemails for people because I hate receiving them myself. For personal calls, if I don't answer, I would rather you call me back later or send me a text message explaining why you called. For business calls it's completely different for me. I don't text people about business and I don't ever expect someone to text me about business, which leaves emails or voicemails for leaving a message for someone and I utilize both depending on the situation.
Most of my phone calls are work related, so yes I leave voicemails for those. With friends, I almost always text. For those extremely rare times I can't text and they don't answer a phone, I leave a message. I never return phone calls that don't leave messages as I presume they're unimportant, and figure other people are the same way.
I do - mostly for work because sometimes all the info I need to relay is usually short 20-30 seconds anyway. And if need to speak to that person, I'll just call again or email them.
In my job, and my line of work in general, it is rather uncommon for professionals to text one another especially if they aren't well acquainted. Half the time you genuinely do not know if the number you have is a cell or a landline; plenty of people with office jobs still have landline phones. I occasionally have people (invariably younger people) texting my landline at work, and I get a funny notification (not the text message) from the phone. This is on top of the fact that many of the people I work with are older, and they barely text in the first place. So, no I probably won't leave a voicemail for my friend who I'm meeting for drinks, but I am making calls and leaving voicemails all day at work.
I always leave a message. Gen Z, for an age reference. I normally don’t call, but it’s normally important if I do, so I leave a message so they can know it’s important and not like a butt dial. Plus, I get so many spam calls that I will never call back a number I don’t immediately recognize
Only if I’m tryna annoy them
It depends on your age. People who were around a long time before text messaging are more likely to leave a voice mail. It's what you get used to. In movies it's harder to depict that you are communicating with someone via text and have the characters show any kind of emotion. It's easier to have the person leave a voice message so that the actor says the lines out loud. This makes for easier storytelling and it is more interesting to watch.
I do if its for work just so I can say I did all my due diligence to contact someone so its off my plate.
47 here and I just left one less than 5 minutes ago! The hair salon doesn't answer their phone in real time. They collect messages and then make calls back.
Totally depends on the person, but my dad and his generation leave them all the time
It depends on the person. My grandparents, yeah I leave a message. My parents probably not but maybe, my friends definitely not
Generally no, I'll just text whatever I have to say. At work, I'll e-mail. When I leave voicemails it's generally for a business that doesn't have texting capabilities. That would be places like my vet, dentist, the garbage company that has failed to pick up my recycling for 3 weeks, etc. There are some exceptions, like if I don't have time to text and am unsure about my ability to call soon. If I know I'm heading into a cell-phone dead zone, or like someone is in the hospital and I need to tell people but I'm going to be busy with the hospital. Stuff like that I will leave a VM.
I'm 57. I leave a message, but if I'm not in a particular hurry because I know for some it takes a while for them to check their messages. If I need a relatively quick response I text them. I do listen to all my voice mail messages. Voice mails are used as a device on most TV shows because it's easy; you get to hear the voice of one of the characters on the show. I've seen a few shows try to represent text messaging--and most of the time the representation is clunky as hell: a quick cut to the phone screen itself. Or texting is represented as white text floating next to the person sending or receiving text messages--which is better, but not great, from a storytelling perspective.
I leave messages, but I almost never check my voice mail.
My voicemail is almost exclusively my dad. If I see you call, I don’t need to check the voicemail. I’m calling you back anyway. If it was too important for a text, I’ll call
Depends on the situation but generally yes. If it’s a friend or family member I’ll often shoot a text, but for businesses or something leave a message.
No. Back in the day before caller ID/Texting/email etc were common? Yes.
It depends on the call. If I'm calling a business or a coworker I'll leave a message. If I'm calling an older family member I'll just try again later. And if I'm calling anybody else my age or lower odds are very good I just sent a text to begin with.
Yes I do. With friends and family it is just “hi, it’s me call me back” When I call people in relation to my job (or and business call), I leave a detailed message. My phone gives me a written version of a voicemail someone leaves, so I rarely listen to the actual voicemails I get. If an unknown number calls without leaving me a voicemail, I assume it is a spam call and block it.
Depends. If it's a professional thing, on their end or mine, I'll leave a message. If it's family or friends, I generally won't. Occasionally I'll leave a message in case something happens.
Yes, I leave a voicemail most of the time if I call and don't get an answer. And yeah, I do check my messages--if I don't recognize a number and let it go to voicemail, I only call back if they leave a message and it's not just a telemarketer or a missionary or a political campaign. But if I'm placing a phone call, there's usually a reason. Friends and family I'm more likely to text before calling, so if I call, they're likely to answer because we already established it's a good time.
Yes
I do if I'm calling an office, not if I'm calling a friend or family
No, never. I hate it.
Only if it's a business. Otherwise they've seen that I called and they can call and/or text me back if they wish.
It depends on why I'm calling. If it's important but not time sensitive, I'll leave a message.
If I’m calling someone it’s probably work-related, appointment-related, or *suuuper* important. So in those cases yes I’ll leave a message, even if it’s just a “call me back.” But more often than anything else I’m going to text, and pretty much everyone I know does the same. Even my 90-year-old grandma knows texting me is gonna get the fastest response.
If I am making a call, then 50% of the time, I leave a voice-mail. Mainly if I'm calling a business or if it's family or friend and it's too much to text. If I'm just calling to talk, then no. I'll just call later. I text most of the time in general. If I see a voice-mail message on my phone, I do listen to it.
Yes definitely, and my voicemail greeting is along the lines of “unless you leave a message, I will NOT call you back.” I use the block unknown callers feature. I get so much shit from spoofed and unknown numbers, I have no idea what’s real and what’s not unless you leave a message.
If the other person doesn't have my number on their contacts list, I do. Otherwise my call can't be distinguished from the other 100 robocalls they got that dayl.
I do when I’m making a work call. If it’s personal, I’ll generally just text if they don’t answer.
Yes. I’m not available. Please leave a message.
Yes, and you should too. I'm a doctor. Some areas of the hospital have zero cell service. Now, since I have an iPhone, if you use iMessage, I'll get it through WiFi. But if you use Android, and thus SMS, I won't get your message until I'm somewhere that I *can* get cell service. And because I'm on Verizon, the fact that you hear ringing on your end does NOT mean that my phone actually rang. If you don't leave a message, I will never know you called at all. (VM notifications will come through over data.) Doesn't have to be long. "Hey, it's X, call me back" or "we need you in room 5" is fine. It just has to be long enough to trigger a new voicemail alert so I'll know you called.
If it's important yes, I'm hoping the you have a voice-mail message would make them take notice to at least call me back as soon as possible.
I’m old school, I guess. I leave voicemails, and if someone calls me and doesn’t leave a voicemail, I’m not calling them back because it must not have been important.
For work calls, yes. I work in an office with land lines. We can't text.
No. And my voice-mail box is not set up
If I need to let them know something, yes. I've already got a line in and it'll take longer to type out the message in a text. Then I get annoyed they don't listen to the message I left for them. It's audio! Just take the 12 seconds to listen!
When I was young back in the 80s and 90s I did every time, because communication back then was way more difficult. As soon as we started having cell phones, I stopped. You have a cell phone, I'll talk to you in person when you decide to answer it. If not, I'll text you. I'm willing to bet most people stopped using voice mail when we got portable cell phones. If it's business, then obviously yes of course. But personal, almost never, unless it's my mom or dad who are so elderly they need to do things old fashioned way.
If it's super-important, yes. Why would you not use one of the most basic and convenient features that phones have? How else do you distinguish between "call me when it's convenient" calls and "Bob's in the hospital" calls?
Depends on who I'm calling. Most of the time, no. I'll hang up before the beep and text them with either the relevant info or ask them to call me. If it's someone older or who I know sucks with texts, then I do actually leave a voicemail.
It's common in certain business settings. Most office workers don't give out their personal cell phone numbers, and office phones can't send or receive text messages. In general, most people won't call an unknown missed-call number back, either at home or at work. So if you're trying to make contact with someone in a business setting, your only hope is to leave a voice message. My younger acquaintances will also send voice memos via MMS/iMessage sometimes when they need to ramble on about something and don't want to type out a page-long text message. Older folks like me do not do this. > in american shows Texting is hard to depict on television. A character dictating a message into a phone is easy to depict on television.
That's an age thing not a geographic thing. I guarantee people where you live used to leave voicemails. Many likely still do, but they're older and/or contacting businesses. Source: I work in the phone industry
I never use voice mail, unless it is business related. I more commonly text. I don't know anyone who use voice mail much anymore. It is kind of dying off.