Audio-only is an underrated means of communication.
It was the default for a while, with the telephone — after written letters and the telegraph but before email, texting, social media, and video conferencing.
Audio has what text, email, and Twitter lack in paralanguage — stuff like tone, inflection, and pauses that clearly communicate sarcasm, for example.
This important advantage of audio over text is pretty widely appreciated.
What is far less appreciated is the advantage of audio-only vs. video conferencing (audio+video), because it doesn’t offer more — it offers less. But I believe that when it comes to audio vs. video communication, more often than not, less is more.
Audio-only is less distracting than video calls. You can focus on the speaker’s voice instead of their bad hair day or visual tic. You will not be distracted by the goings on of any of the other people on the call who aren’t speaking at all. If you are one of those non-speakers yourself, you can focus on actively listening instead of actively looking like you’re listening. Even if these things only occupy 10% of your conscious thought, that’s a lot of unnecessary distraction. Most people have a hard enough time focusing for long periods of time without this 10% handicap, and I think for many people it may be much greater than 10%. In summary, to use the somewhat over-used phrase, audio-only has less noise, more signal.
In my personal experience, for whatever combination of reasons, I find audio-only generally makes for realer conversations, which are better conversations. I find them more enjoyable. That’s why I prefer them.
I am not just writing this. I live by it and encourage you to try it. I record all of my podcasts audio-only. I join Zooms audio-only and hide the window with everyone’s faces. I rarely FaceTime my family or friends — I just call them. Usually I’ll go for a walk while we talk, another thing you can’t so easily or acceptably do with video calls.
Most people and businesses started using video calls in recent years due to the advent of apps like FaceTime and Zoom, respectively. Since COVID, video calls have become the default. I believe this is wrong. Try some more audio-only communications if you can. See if it feels more right.
JAKE
context: https://paragraph.com/@jake/audio-only-is-underrated
Defaulting all calls to video calls is one of the silliest mistakes of this decade.
why? (i don't necessarily disagree, just want to hear your perspective)
https://paragraph.com/@jake/audio-only-is-underrated
wow and here i was thinking i'd *read* your blog. i hear you on the distractions piece. also seeing your own face, i always turn that off when possible. i do think that it's harder to build rapport and a deep connection with someone when you can't see their face - i think there's a fairly fundamental human psychology piece at play, probably rooted in biology. eg a baby's face lights up differently when looking at another human's face vs a non-human-but-still-entertaining object. anecdotally i've found audio only works better for me with folks i already know (have met in person or on a video call). i prefer video for folks i'm just getting to know (reading body language helps me) or folks i am very close with (family, best friends, etc where those distractions aren't there).
I respectfully disagree on this one big papa
back this more than any take i’ve seen on this app in the last few weeks
now imagine if you had to do your makeup
my mother everytime lol
My grandma every opportunity with the phrase, “can I see your face”
Yes
Couldn’t agree more. Not all conversations require full eyes locked to have a convo. I encourage cameras off.
only on rare occasions will I video call.
Audio only allows for the fast pacing people to engage as it was radio But video is about connection and presence Not saying it’s bad or good just that I like to choose and depends on context