Scientific Study Finds People Who Leave Voice Messages Are 70% More Likely to Be Ignored
6/12/2025
A new report published in the British Journal of Unnecessary Communication has revealed a strong correlation between people who leave voice messages and those most likely to be completely disregarded by friends, family, and colleagues.
The year-long study tracked 2,000 smartphone users across the UK, focusing on communication preferences and social response times. Participants were split into two groups: those who send text messages like normal humans, and those who record long, rambling voice notes with no warning or consent.
The research found that recipients of voice messages took, on average, 412% longer to respond — if they responded at all. Many described the experience as “like receiving a podcast I didn’t ask for.”
One respondent, who received a 3-minute voice message about “someone’s dream and then a thing about a salad,” said, “I didn’t even press play. I just stared at it in fear for several hours, then deleted it.”
Cognitive testing revealed that habitual voice message users consistently failed to grasp social cues, often believing their unedited monologues were “more personal” and “faster than typing,” despite data showing they actually wasted 14 hours per week waiting for replies that never came.
Researchers also observed that voice message users had difficulty with impulse control, often starting messages with no idea what they were going to say, and continuing to speak long after they’d forgotten the point.
Alarmingly, 22% of participants who regularly left voice messages also admitted to talking on speakerphone in public, suggesting a possible spectrum of audio-based boundary violations.
The team is currently investigating whether this behaviour stems from a lack of self-awareness or is part of a wider condition known as “main character syndrome.”
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