Member-only story
Annoyed By All Those Political Texts?
Here’s why you shouldn’t be
You’re trying to work, eat, drive, or whatever
. . . when your phone burbles. You like to think you’re good at focusing, but text alerts are designed to hook your attention like a trout hitting a hand-tied fly. Maybe it’s your client, or your relative who’s in the hospital, or even that alluring someone you recently met and were wondering if you should text first.
But no. “Hi, Jan (or whatever your first name is, and that’s the dead giveaway: who calls you by name in a text?), this is Sarah (or whoever), a volunteer with the _______ Party; or, Americans for Measure ___; or, the _______ campaign.” There’s a phrase or two of info, followed by a cheery, hopeful call to action. This is typically framed as a question, amounting to, “Can we count on your vote?”
If you text back NO, you might get a follow-up question. If you text back YES, you’re likely to get a further suggestion about volunteering or asking your friends to vote. Either way, you’re in for at least one more text exchange in this round. Meanwhile your work goes undone, your pasta carbonara grows gelatinous, and your social life is no better off than it was a minute ago.
