Texting our friends is one of the most expected things that we can do in a day. With the convenience of the world at our fingertips, it’s naturally a foregone conclusion to say that writing a simple message to be sent off cannot be any easier than it is nowadays.

With spell checks, emojis, and the ability to send pictures or links, texting has provided a ton of interesting features that have made texting so developed from where it started in the ’90s. One of these brand new additions is voice messages, where instead of being limited to sending texts, you can now send audio recordings.

It’s a big feature, one that people don’t utilize or forget to utilize often. However, there’s quite a lot of fun to be had when you send a voice message to a friend, even just once.

1. You Can Say A Lot

The obvious feature of a voice message is that you can say a lot. In chatting, you use your hands to type out the necessary words to convey your thoughts, but in voice messages, it’s as easy as talking. And you can have varying lengths of messages, like a simple one-second “hi” or an odyssey-spanning novel in one full minute or more. Texting takes more time than just speaking, and if you need to say a lot ASAP, then a voice message is a great choice.

2. Your Delivery Adds A Lot

There’s a lot that gets taken away when you are limited to only the written word to convey meaning, and in an informal communication medium like texting, important indicators like tone struggle to add more meaning to the message. There is nothing like hearing your friend thrillingly recount firsthand how they rejected their ex or how they got a promotion at work. Sometimes, the storytelling is in how they tell the story, and the voice is necessary to achieve that desired entertainment effect.

3. They Are Not Constrained By Time

By this point, a question that might pop into your mind is why not just call them. But the busy schedules of people every day likely thwart that option quickly. Sometimes, you just want a quick update from a friend, but you’re not able to block out even three minutes to focus on you.

Luckily, you can just send off that voice message with all the benefits of a call and wait for their reply later. This is good for loved ones who hardly have time to check their phone nowadays.

4. You Can Look Away From Your Phone

This seems like an odd thing to point out, but adding to the previous point about time, voice messages can be flexible with your time, and they can also be flexible with your tasks. While going about your day, why not pop in your earphones and listen to your friend’s podcast about the current gossip they have about school? It can be much more entertaining than your morning playlist, and you have the luxury to respond and add to the conversation when you have more time.

5. There’s A Mystery Element

Unlike a text, you can see the full message at a glance and get a feel for what it’s about, maybe even spot some keywords to clue yourself into the conversation you’ll have. But with a voice message, your only clue is the length of the recording, and for better or for worse, it can feel like Christmas as you press the play button to figure out just what your friends have gotten into this time around.

Hopefully, by the end of this short list, you finally understand the exciting appeal of the voice message and how it might become a great means of extracting so much more joy out of your conversations with friends. Now go off and use this gift wisely, as a picture may be worth a thousand words, but you can say a thousand words faster than you can type them. Ciao!