The End of Voicemail

I found an editorial in the most recent issue of The Week magazine entitled "The End of Voicemail." It's only a couple of paragraphs but worth a quick read. The author makes an astute observation that his children don't use voice mail in the same manner as he. Namely, his kids don't listen to them. Rather they use voice mail simply as a notification that he called. However, he goes on to suggest that the reason for this is that, thanks to the fast paced nature of society today, his kids require instant gratification.

While I agree with the former statement, the latter belies a misunderstanding of the generational differences in how we consume information. As the PC revolution, um, revolved, we pushed technology to fit fully into the mold of our experience of the the "offline" world around us. So naturally, 3-D was better than 2-D, audio-visual better than voice, instant better than delayed. And for any given application, they are. But that does not imply that they are by definition a more efficient conveyance of all information.

His kids are not demanding instant gratification. What they are demanding is that available technology meet their needs and expectations. These expectations are unencumbered by bearing witness to that revolution, and when it comes to phone messages, text is still king.