In 2009, when I was writing for The New York Times, I launched a national campaign of outrage against cellphone carriers. I wanted them to eliminate (or make optional) the ridiculous 15-second instruction messages that play every time you call someone to leave a voicemail.

Now a Yahoo Tech reader wants to know whatever happened to that campaign. Why do those pointless recordings exist at all? We know to “begin speaking at the tone.” We do not want “more options.”

In the video above, I offer some good news on the ongoing battle of voicemail message bloat — and a quick hack that will save you a lot of time and effort.

You can email David Pogue here.