Today is National Inane Answering Message Day, a January 30 holiday. Many people look at the title of this day and think ….huh!!? Some people think it’s a typo, and the day should read “National Insane Answering Message Day”. That’s because sometimes people leave the weirdest and craziest messages.  

Let’s clarify the meaning of an “inane” answering message. We all get them. An inane message is a senseless or meaningless message, spam, or a prank call. Or, it could be literally an insane message. So, National Inane Answering Message Day is a day to end those numerous annoying messages. The trouble is…….how do you do that? 

Before the arrival of cell phones, most homes had a telephone answering machine. They have disappeared from homes and apartments. However, they remain in practically all businesses. Here is a typical message we all had on all answering machines:  “Hello, this is John Doe. I am unable to come to the phone right now. At the sound of the tone, please leave your name and number. I will return your call as soon as I can”.

This is an old holiday that dates back to before cell phones when people had an answering machine attached to their landline telephones. In today’s world, we’re talking about inane voicemail. While technology changes, the messages we receive on our cell phones are as crazy and insane as ever. These machines capture important calls when we are not available. And, they also capture an immense volume of calls that are political, marketing, and scams of all kinds. There’s no shortage of them, and they’re proliferated by mechanized robocalls.