So, WhatsApp Now Allows You to Speed Up Voice Notes
A couple of weeks ago, I woke up to a voice note (‘VN’) from a dear friend where she informed me that we could now listen to WhatsApp VNs at twice the speed. She concluded the message by telling me that she was going to send me a twenty-minute long VN but since it was technically only 10 minutes listening time for me, it was not a big deal, and I could set aside time to listen to it and respond immediately.
Initially, I was excited by ALL the possibilities. On average, I think I send and receive about 2 hours of VNs each week, which translates to a total of 4 hours I spend recording myself or listening to the ramblings of family and friends. That is 2.4% of my week, excluding an additional hour or two I spend on actual video and voice calls with said family and friends. And here WA was giving me the golden opportunity to cut that down to 1.2% of my week and free up the remaining time for Other Very Important Things that I was clearly neglecting by listening/recording VNs. What is not to love, right?
So, I began listening to Linda’s 20-minute VN at twice the speed and simply put, it just sounded plain wrong. That is not how Linda talks at all. At twice the speed, I could not make out the distinct pauses that she makes when I know she is about to say something profound. At twice the speed, I could not decipher her mood, tone, and general state of being. At twice the speed, I could not read between the lines because literally, the space between the lines had been skipped over. I think I made it to 5 minutes (listening time) before I restarted listening to it at normal, human speed….and balance was restored in the universe.
Do not get me wrong — I am not trying to rip WA over this functionality, but it did make me wonder as to the extent we will go to optimise our lives and how we decide what truly requires and deserves our full attention. This functionality has proved useful to me over the past year. As a student, with the introduction of online school because of the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been instances where I had Zoom/Screen fatigue and did not log in for a live class and instead, caught up asynchronously by watching the recorded session a couple of days later….at twice the speed. Just like that, a 3-hour lecture turned became 1.5 hours instead and I still met the course objectives! Efficiency. Another example is with podcasts. I subscribe to a handful of podcasts and there are 4 weekly ones which I try not miss episodes of. The weekly time commitment for these podcasts is 4 hours and I usually listen to them when I go on my bi-weekly walks. But because I stay in London, sometimes it rains constantly and I am unable to go for a walk and when I then do, it may be that I have gone 2 weeks without listening to podcasts. The speed functionality ensures that if I take a 2-hour walk, I can catch up with my podcasts. And this genuinely makes me happy.
But I think we can all agree that there is a difference between consciously choosing to listen to Ira Glass at twice the speed as compared to consciously choosing to listening to your best friend at twice the speed.
The former can be attributed to efficiency but the latter. I find it almost ruthless and conveys an air of, ‘’Just say what you want to say and get it over with.’’ I mean, when arranging a lunch date with a friend, would you time-block 30 minutes and then explain it by saying, well, we can speak at twice our usual speeds and therefore get in an hours’ worth of conversation? I do not think so.
I will be honest, I do not tend to listen or respond to VNs instantly (or even on the same day if I am being completely honest) but when I do listen and respond, it is a thoughtful exercise, and I am fully engaged. I give the process, if not 100% of my attention, then at least 80%. I have a handful of friends with whom I routinely exchange VNs, and I have, in a lot of ways, built them into my routine. For instance, Linda is the friend with whom I can exchange 30-minute long VNs (which we jokingly call podcasts) and each time I receive a VN from her, I look forward to preparing dinner that evening because I know the soundtrack to that task will be my dear friend’s voice.
Efficiency and optimisation are all the rage right now, but we need to be mindful of the areas that we choose to optimise. Relationships are messy and simply take time. Relationships require presence. Relationships require listening. Relationships require sacrifice. Does it ever occur to you that if you constantly need to save time or create time or make time and shave a few minutes off a task/chore/errand, you are probably doing more than you should be doing? If I had listened to Linda’s VN at twice the speed and spent 10 minutes instead of 20, what would I have done with the other 10 minutes I would have saved? Probably listened to it again to make sure that I had caught everything she said, and more importantly, her tone, mood, and state of wellbeing.
So thanks WhatsApp, but I will not be using the speed modification functionality.
