Voicemail Blogging

Tuesday was typical, if I consider typical to be watching my second grade daughter walk in a circle for fifteen minutes, raising money for charity with her classmates.
“Now to check on the free-range children,” Principal Skinner echoed in my brain.
Leaving her school, I call Erik and Mike, realizing if I got their voicemails that I don’t necessarily need them to call me back- it’s not urgent, merely a musing idea. I could just hang up. If it had been important, I’d tell them to call me and why.
But that’s not why I was calling, I realized. I wanted to complain, not venomously, just sort of rant about paved schoolyards and Popsicles. But nowhere near my computer, I had no outlet.
So, my messages were voicemail blogs. I’m sure it drives some people crazy, and I’ve been known to leave messages until the time limit cut me off, but it got me thinking.
One of the technologies software developers are still working the kinks out of is voice recognition software. Shan Man of KUPD/Phoenix nailed a hilarious bit on his blog recently, mocking our frustrations with automated voice systems. But as this technology becomes ubiquitous, becoming standard fare on social networking and blogging sites, will it be the death of qwerty texting?
I imagined myself, instead of calling my friends, calling MySpace and leaving a voicemail blog. Someone visiting the page could read what I had just spoken into my phone, or have the option to listen to it as a stream.
I had heard recently that despite contractions (like LOL and BTW) and hurriedly misspelled words (like “luv” and “prolly”), some English teachers are finding kids easier to teach in that IM and text messaging are forcing an economical view of language on them. Restricted by time (IM) or space (texting), you only type words necessary for communicating the idea. Fewer words to edit.
This may be a quick reprieve. When voice technology completely takes over, the trend may reverse again, as people leave long, winding, sinewy blogs to be drunk-dialed and forgotten. Well, at least until all your friends post their comments.