Voice mail is dying. Good riddance.

Listening to voice mail is excruciating. You need to dial a number, wait for the prompts, and then when you finally reach the actual messag...

Listening to voice mail is excruciating. You need to dial a number, wait for the prompts, and then when you finally reach the actual message, the sound quality is so garbled that you catch only half of the message, forcing you to listen to it multiple times. It’s slow. It’s annoying. And it has no place in today’s face-paced business world.

In the era of always-online, when iPhones allow you to compose emails anywhere, any time, and where other messaging apps such as WhatsApp and iMessage allow instant communication, why is it that some people still continue to use this antiquated slow and ultimately inefficient way of leaving a message?

It seems that people seem to agree. USA Today reported that American telecommunications firm Vonage reported that usage of voice mail decreased by 8% between July 2011 and September 2012, with the trend expected to continue into the far future. For corporate communication, email is so much more efficient given that it can be read at a glance.

So yes, here’s my number. So call me maybe. But please, pretty please, don’t leave me a message.