Straight to Voicemail with Slydial

Ever wish that you could leave someone a message without actually having to talk to them?  Most people would point you in the direction of an email or perhaps a text message. Slydial, a newly released service, allows users to ‘buy’ a missed call and go directly to a cell phone users voicemail.

The technology, called Slydial, lets callers dial a mobile phone but avoid an unwanted conversation - or unwanted intimacy - on the other end. The incoming call goes undetected by the recipient, who simply receives the traditional blinking light or ping that indicates that a voice mail message has been received. 

Link: Don’t Want to Talk About It?

It is a nifty service, however it has potential to turn the world into a bunch of anti-social people who do not want to directly deal with conflict:

“Text messaging someone ‘I would prefer not to see you again’ is really not my style,” she added. “But at the same time, I wanted to avoid an awkward conversation.”

By saying that texting a break-up message is not a style you prefer and then using a service like Slydial is contradictory.  Avoiding someone and breaking up with them behind the scenes is just as bad as sending them a text message.  You are avoiding conflict; something that cannot be done forever.

Slydial is a good service in theory, but I see it being used as a spam service more than anything.  Now spammers will be able to use Slydial to flood our inbox with pointless voicemails; and we will not even know what hit us.

Justin