Then the person sends you a 2 minute long audio over whatsapp
Not if I don’t have whatsapp.
At least I can get a transcript and speed it up a bit
My kid can make 100 push ups, when Nobody’s watching.I love that meme! I can see this one being real though
ya if the child is old enough to know what a phone call is, they are old enough to understand how pointless voicemails are
The True Crime here is an 11 year old child with a (I suppose) Smartphone.
I would totally understand if it was in a place where your kids can take a walk or public transport to school or other places on their own. I would also want them to have means to call you.
EDIT: my bad, I ignored the ‘smart’ bit there. I just meant any phone.
Can be a normal phone which is what I would do if I where a parent and my kid would have to bike 12 km to school every day.
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I’d just like to mention that it was perfectly normal for kids to go on 12km without a phone not so long ago, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it now. Parents worry too much. I mean, it’s a biological impulse that makes a lot of sense, but it’s often over done.
Well yeah, but it is always good to carry a phone with you especially when you bike through somewhere where there isn’t a lot of other traffic or it is off your unusual route. There is nothing wrong with carrying a Nokia 3310 or something
Ye, I think it’s fine either way, nokia or no phone at all. I cycled 17km to school from age 12 to 17 and only got my first phone when I was 18 and moved out. Of course I did get a flat tire a couple of times, but then I’d just walk or sat at the back of the bicycke of a friend.
And what if you fell while you where alone and broke a leg making it impossible for you to walk? Or you friend fell and hit his head open on the road being able to call for help is actually pretty handy.
Like it might sound absurd, but shit happens
I suppose living in the Netherlands, a pretty crowded place, assures you that you’re rarely ever alone in the middle of nowhere for very long. But yes that is handy and I can totally understand parents feeling comfortable with their kids being able to call for help if anything ever happens to them.
No you are never that far from society in NL, but at moments when every second counts I would rather just have a phone for my kid. Use something like a Nokia, give them a 10 euro prepaid card and if it is used up buy more and take it from their savings.
At least that’s what ill do when I have kids
I think a lot more kids got napped in the States before cellphones were common
Kidnaps are and were never common. It’s one of the most overrated risks that parents worry about. And also one of the most disastrous especially in the US, where people, riled up by media, seems to find it irresponisble to let your child roam around the world unwatched. Whereas experts have shown again and again that this is important for the childs development.
That paranoia came about when crime documentaries got big on TV (and now internet) rather than a consistent increase in abductions. People are really bad at reasoning with probability and undoing attentional bias from media, so they even think it can be likely kids would be abducted if left alone.
This is why 24/7 location tracking on kid’s phones is completely normalized. Sure, it’s not a bad thing to take precautions, but tracking your kids like a dog seems a bit much. And I’m sure a lot of parents misuse it for a lot less serious things (eg teens being at the mall unsupervised).
Normal Phone would be fine :)
Whatever you say Grandpa
Ok, brainrot
I think I was maybe 12 when I got my first smartphone, admittedly they weren’t really a thing much earlier than that and while I definitely have issues I’m pretty sure none of them were caused by the phone
There was no Instagram/TikTok back then, though.
Or Cocomelon, or other services and channels literally designed to break impressionable brains.
Mine is “You have reached my phone but not me, I don’t really check voicemail, if you need to reach me, text.” I still get voicemail.
Some voicemail the phone will transcribe, those I read but really don’t listen to them.
Why I still end up listening to a voicemail after reading the transcription:
Edit: Image had a visible phone number in it. Wasn’t mine (just grabbed from Google) but still probably not cool to spread that around. 😔
I’d still have to because the new voice mail notification won’t go away until you at least pop in and delete it or listen.
Some people just can’t fathom communicating other than a voice call lol
Since about 2006 my voicemail message has been “for a faster response send me a text message.” When I started my business I added my business name and rerecorded the rest. If a client can’t send a text instead of call then I’m going to charge them more.
That’s a greater idea I’m doing that
The absolute worst thing about voicemail is that you can’t just listen to the one you just got. I have about 50 unheard voicemails at this point. You leave one? I have to work my way through 50 just to hear yours. And it doesn’t even let me work from most recent. Nope. Just never going to happen.
huh? Android lets you pick from a menu.
What? How do you set that up?
It’s carrier specific. Mine doesn’t do that either. iPhones seem to be the only ones that force it. Otherwise I get to sit through the same dial-in voicemail service as ever.
Darn, I thought that was the case but I was kinda hoping that I could get around it.
The feature is called “Visual Voicemail”. Your carrier may support it, but if it’s like mine they likely charge extra. iOS works around it by just answering the call and saving a recorded message.
Most smartphones offer voicemail transcription now, I believe. Or at least Apple does. I don’t have voicemail set up on my Android phone to check.
I used to use an app called Hullomail which brought them into an app as voice clips you can see the caller and play or export.
It also showed you missed calls while your phone was off since they can just flag when a call was redirected to them. Super useful.
IIRC they got acquired and removed the free tier but you might still find them useful.
It is ridiculous that in 2025 you still don’t have random access voicemail.
Life must really suck when you’re too dumb to know how things work.
As your dad proved when he couldn’t figure out the condom
That’s actually really smart lol
Voicemail is actually really nice, if people call you and don’t leave a message, the call was not important or a spam call. Its like the perfect filter.
Yeah but I get like 5 spam calls a week from “Nicole with loan processing” or “Joshua Martinez from the loan issuance department” and they always leave a voicemail that I have to delete because I tried to get a personal loan 4 months ago.
I’m an old guy, but I hate voice mail. Mine says “You can try to leave a message, but it’s probably full, and I’ll never listen to it anyway, so either send a text to this number, or send an email to XXX, and I’ll get back to you ASAP.”
I used to troll with mine and spell out my name, phone number, email address, website, all twice.
Most voice-mails I got were like “JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHY IS YOUR MESSAGE SO LONG”
top kek
This is the way.
Though, I have found that the default message of “pinball_wizard has not configured their voicemail” conveys the same message pretty effectively, too.
Visual voicemail (voicemail transcribed to text) has been a godsend for me. The number of doctors offices that call with an unlisted number is staggering.
This is perfect. At least boomers have an excuse. Millennials using voice notes is unforgivable.
Mine emails me an attachment with the recording. It’s a lot easier than the old call up voicemail to listen to your messages etc. Lot of people prefer it to writing with their phones.
I don’t like voicemail typically, but I have some voicemails from family members who have passed away and I cherish listening to them.
If I were you, I would save a copy of them somewhere safe. I wouldn’t trust a phone company or my phone to hold on to voicemails forever.
Back in the day, I realized there wasn’t really a voice-mail message length limit, so I had a 20 minute rant about why I don’t want voicemails
I disabled my voicemail. Problem solved.
I’ve never had it enabled
Over here whenever you get a new provider, the voicemail is automatically enabled. You need to actively disable it or you are being spammed with messages from your mom saying “hi, yeah, so I tried to call, but you didn’t pick up… So, I’ll try again in 2 minutes. Bye!” “hi, yeah, so I tried to call you again, but still you didn’t pick up. Why aren’t you picking up? Anyway, I’ll try again in a bit. Bye!” etc.
I had a phone set up as a tablet. It couldn’t send or receive SMS or calls. It was a beautiful decade.
Then microsoft killed skype-in and skype-out, because they worked really well and the glitter-junkies who’ve shat something new and broken and slow onto the public needed less competition with working apps. Had to get a new plan with a number that worked. Received a shit call and it went to voicemail on the way from the store to the train.
I had voicemail enabled for 10 minutes and it was hell.
