This article explores the voice note phenomenon, specifically through the lens of Irish culture. It argues that the voice note, while ubiquitous in modern communication, is anathema to Irish values and represents a form of cultural erosion.
The voice note is anathema to the values that generated and uphold Irishness as we know it. While ironically (but perhaps unsurprisingly) the Italians love a voice note, this seemingly benign technological artefact is the Irish person’s pineapple pizza. An offence. Something that threatens and undermines the Irish way of life, if your neighbour with the very weathered Child of Prague lying face-down on her front lawn has anything to say about it.
The voice note might just be a form of Irish cultural erosion. If it wasn’t so inherently American, we’d accuse it of being British just for its gall. \The voice note presumes, nay demands, too much. That we are able to hear the sound of our own voice without screaming ourselves hoarse with horror, for one thing. Because once you’ve recorded a voice note, it’s mandatory to listen back to yourself sounding shrill and rambling and incoherent.An Irishman at Oxford: It was an education in being an outsider. I felt alienated from the very start Irishman in Singapore: I wondered if I was foolish to emigrate in my 50s. But I feel more alive than ever ‘Rome is a fantastic city to live in, but it’s very complicated. It’s a mess of a place. Madrid is clean. Everything works’ Realising that you sent a friend a recording in which you accidentally called them “Mam” for some reason or badmouthed the ex they are now decidedly back with can make you want to crawl into a hole and die. You probably shouldn’t have called him “a waste of polyester” or “the shame of Leitrim”. Worse still, you could send the voice note to the wrong person. This feels (and I know from experience) exactly how it felt that time I accidentally sent my editor at The Irish Times a text message saying merely “I love you” with no further context whatsoever. She was good about it and attempted to let me down gently, but it had been intended for my then boyfriend and really could have been a whole HR snafu. Secondly, the incoming voice note sidles in presuming that you must want to hear the unfiltered, unedited thoughts of your friends and loved ones, or worse still, your colleagues or boss. It is a technology widely abused by those who consider their verbal incontinence to be a gift to the receiver, or by your mother who voice-notes you incoherently from what sounds like the strongroom of an underground bunker with demands that you remotely fix her various tech problems. “Is this email from Joe Biden asking for a pint of my blood fake?” \Irish culture sees an incoming voice note from anyone and thinks, he/she has some neck to be presuming that they have anything to say worth listening to, or that anyone would want to hear their Dundalk accent talking about “give me a call back when you can. Jimmy’s in the hospital”.And yet. Though we could never have invented a mechanism whereby you presume somebody might like to listen to your impromptu monologuing, the voice note is a crucial component of the Irish emigrant toolkit in keeping a live connection with people at home. If you live far from home, even more so. At this time of year, my sofa in Australia is 11 hours ahead of my brother’s kitchen table in Limerick. When it’s waking-up time at home, it’s winding-down time here. I’m as prone as my niece to wondering when someone becomes a grown-up when I answer work emails that have come in from the other side of the planet overnight It doesn’t sound all that bad, except when you think about what it’s truly like to have a serious, or even a trivial conversation first thing in the morning or just before bed. No matter when you schedule it, somebody probably isn’t in the right head space. At the end of a long day with my small niece and nephew, my brother’s eyes are crossing with tiredness on a video cal
CULTURE IRELAND TECHNOLOGY VOICE NOTES COMMUNICATION EMIGRATION
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
A Late Late Tribute to the Voice of Irish Sport, Mícheál Ó MuircheartaighThe Late Late Show dedicated a special episode to the beloved Irish sport of GAA, featuring heartfelt tributes to the legendary commentator Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh.
Read more »
Here's What Team STELLAR Is Loving This WeekSTELLAR Magazine, Irish Fashion, Irish Women's Magazine, Irish Beauty, shops in Ireland, celebrity news, glossy magazine, Fade Street, make-up tips, Irish style, Vip Magazine Group
Read more »
Here's What Team STELLAR Is Loving This WeekSTELLAR Magazine, Irish Fashion, Irish Women's Magazine, Irish Beauty, shops in Ireland, celebrity news, glossy magazine, Fade Street, make-up tips, Irish style, Vip Magazine Group
Read more »
5 Lip Balms To Get You Through The Cold SpellSTELLAR Magazine, Irish Fashion, Irish Women's Magazine, Irish Beauty, shops in Ireland, celebrity news, glossy magazine, Fade Street, make-up tips, Irish style, Vip Magazine Group
Read more »
Hundreds take part in Dublin vigil to show support for Palestinian journalistsMembers of Irish press gather for Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s New Year’s Eve vigil
Read more »
The Irish Times view on Irish language exemptions: protecting a shared experienceWe need to look more broadly at how we teach the language given that so many students leave school with relatively poor standards
Read more »