Voice Connection

The new normal—staring into a screen of blue-lit faces on Zoom—is getting old. Director of Digital Strategy Justin Adelman shares why voice texts have become a welcome reminder that people are far more dynamic (and funny!) than most virtual communication allows them to be.

Transcript:

I have never called so many people in my life. I literally put the phone down. Throw it on speaker and pace around my apartment chatting about absolutely nothing. “How was your day? Same as yesterday? Cool. Same. What are you up to? Yep, same. I'm home.” Even when I'm texting someone, I'm now doing it through voice chat, which I never used to do. But why? I'm Justin Adelman, Director of Digital Strategy at Day One Agency, and in this episode of our Quarterly, I'm going to be talking to you about voice connection.

Listen to my voice. Doesn't that sound nice? Voice is the most trending non trending topic of 2021. Voice isn't new. It's part of our everyday life. We rely on it, we thrive off of it. We communicate with it. Voice provides familiarity, comfort and connection. We find comfort in conversation—audio texts, phone calls, even voice apps. It's why Clubhouse is so popular.

I’ll feel like humans are so accustomed to living in loops. And once you take away that option to connect IRL, we're shocked into really understanding the basic need of emotional connection. And then there's zoom. With zoom fatigue rising and limited real life entertainment options to offer, people are increasingly seeking non-screen based ways to switch off, one of which is the humble phone call and voice text. For example, voice texts are not new on iPhone, they launched in 2014, almost seven years ago, but obviously they have gained new appeal during the past year of isolation.

Voice takes away insecurity of being seen, but provides that satisfaction of human connection. No worries of uncued interruptions and no need to do your hair. Even though I still do unless it's a hat day. And those are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We're so prone to wanting to be together. That's why zoom is exhausting. It's just simply not the same. They remind me that people are so much funnier and stranger and more dynamic than most virtual communication allows them to do. Humor and emotion get lost in written word and reemergence of the voice-texts speaks to that.