Face-to-face conversations are necessary for nurturing relationships, but when that’s not possible, could audio messages help you calmly keep in touch?

Tired of texting? Need a break from calls? Audio messages, often referred to as voice notes or voice memos, are a fun and flexible middle ground. Unlike text messages, they allow the sender to record short, spoken clips and, unlike phone calls, the recipient can listen and respond in their own time.

‘I love a good voice note, whether it’s checking in with my clients, introducing myself to someone new or catching up with friends or family,’ says Amira Mansour, AKA The Communication Expert, a UK-based communication coach who works with individuals and businesses to help them get the most out of their relationships. ‘It’s an authentic and easy way to stay connected to the people we love,’ she adds. It’s also a way of addressing a communications dilemma that’s affecting ever greater numbers of people.

Web of connections

In the early 1990s, social psychologist Kenneth J Gergen wrote a book called The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life. In it, he speculates on the changing nature of connections in the modern world: ‘How are my bonds with my family and friends altered when we are scattered around the world? How is my conception of intimacy, family and friendship affected? And when I leave this conference with a dozen new acquaintances and twice as many promises, how am I to weave them into a thick web of demands and obligations already in place?’