‘Voice notes’ are dividing London: Gen Z love them… but Boomers HATE them
Voice notes are dividing London - Gen Z love them while their parents’ and grandparents’ generation loathe them, a new study suggests.
Research from mobile network operator Talkmobile – who believe conversation is the best communication – reveals a growing trend towards sending audio clips over WhatsApp.
The feature was introduced in 2013, and the Meta-owned platform estimates that some seven billion voice notes are sent worldwide every day.
The Talkmobile study reveals Gen Z - the UK’s youngest generation of adults aged 18 to 27 – are the most prolific voice note senders in the English capital, with nine in 10 (91%) saying they are regular users.
However, in London, Millennials are the generation that sends the most, with an average of 25 voice notes a week, more than three a day. Their main reason for recording audio clips, according to half (48%) of youngsters polled, is that they ‘save time’.
A third of Gen Z Londoners prefer voice notes because they are ‘easier than typing out a message’ (36%), while almost half (45%) say they simply ‘can’t be bothered’ to text.
Meanwhile, London's post-war ‘Baby Boom’ generation – aged 60 to 78 – is the least likely to send an audio clip of themselves, with just a quarter (25%) using the feature.
A quarter (25%) of Boomers believe voice notes are ‘a waste of their time’ while another quarter (25%) say their biggest frustration is that they’re ‘not always in a place where I can have sound on, or have earphones available.’
The older the mobile user, the less likely they are to send a voice note, according to the survey of 2,000 Brits.
On average across the UK, Boomers send just one voice note per week, Gen X send around one a day, and Millennials fire off around 17 every week, or just over two per day.
Over half of Brits (57%) are regular voice note senders, with women (65%) – who send an average of 16 per week - being the bigger users than men (48%), who fire-off 13 per week.
The biggest reason for sending voice notes is that they ‘save time’, according to four in 10 (42%) Brits, while three in 10 (32%) say it’s ‘easier than typing out a message’.
Gen Z send the longest voice notes, averaging 12 minutes. The length of clip decreases as users get older, with Boomers recording the shortest audio, at around two minutes.
And, four in 10 (41%) Boomers admit they ‘never listen to the end’ of a voice note, compared to around four in 10 (39%) Gen Z who ‘always’ listen to the full clip.
Talkmobile - who have an industry-leading customer-rated Trustpilot score of 4.7 - is committed to giving UK customers a straightforward mobile service with great prices and great coverage.
The mobile network operator prides itself in answering customer service calls in 20 seconds and solving any issues promptly.
A Talkmobile spokesman said: “To voice note or not to voice note, that is the question.
“At Talkmobile, we believe conversation is the best form of communication because it connects people in real-time.
“No need to text or send a voice note then await a reply – our advisors jump straight onto solving any issue, meaning customers can soon get back on with their day.”