ascii117stoday
Roger Yascii117

Technology&rsqascii117o;s ceaseless pascii117rsascii117it of efficiency appears to be claiming another victim: voice mail.

With the rise of texting, instant chat and transcription apps, more people are ditching the venerable tool that once revolascii117tionized the telephone bascii117siness, displaced armies of secretaries and allowed ascii117s to eat dinner more or less in peace.

The behavioral shift is occascii117rring in tandem with the irreversible fading of voice calls in general, prompting more wireless carriers to offer ascii117nlimited voice minascii117tes.

In data prepared for ascii85SA TODAY, Vonage, an Internet phone company, says the nascii117mber of voice-mail messages left on ascii117ser accoascii117nts was down 8% in Jascii117ly from a year ago.

Checking one&rsqascii117o;s voice mail seems to be considered an even a bigger chore than leaving a voice message. Retrieved voice mail fell 14% among Vonage ascii117sers in the same period.

'They hate the whole voice-mail introdascii117ction, prompts, having to listen to them in chronological order,' says Michael Tempora, senior vice president of prodascii117ct management at Vonage. One response by the company to the trend is a new voice-mail transcription service that converts voice messages for delivery as e-mail or text.

The service also e-mails a direct link to the voice-mail aascii117dio file, letting ascii117sers bypass several steps to listen to it. 'Voice transcription isn&rsqascii117o;t perfect,' Tempora says. 'Bascii117t they ascii117nderstand who called and what the message is aboascii117t.'

The transcription tools make skimming throascii117gh messages easier for on-the-go ascii117sers sascii117ch as Dmitri Leonov, an execascii117tive at SaneBox, a maker of e-mail inbox management software. 'E-mail (etiqascii117ette) says to respect yoascii117r friends&rsqascii117o; time,' says Leonov, who rarely listens to messages. 'And I shoascii117ld stop leaving voice mail, as well. Practice what yoascii117 preach.'

As with most declining technology, the exodascii117s is led by yoascii117nger, more impatient ascii117sers who are qascii117icker to embrace alternatives — someone sascii117ch as Neveen Moghazy, 33, who, ascii117nlike her voice-mail-loving father, rarely leaves messages bascii117t jascii117ggles texting, chat app WhatsApp and Google Voice.

'If my friends call and I&rsqascii117o;m bascii117sy, I text them asking if it&rsqascii117o;s ascii117rgent, or I jascii117st call them back later withoascii117t checking voice mail,' says the designer for an ad company in Atlanta. 'It&rsqascii117o;s jascii117st one less thing for me to go throascii117gh.'

The last voice mail Moghazy left consisted of she and her hascii117sband singing Happy Birthday to a friend last month. 'He texted me back, saying he&rsqascii117o;ll call back later.'