Non-Thankfulness

Another Thanksgiving has arrived, full of leaf-less trees, colder weather, lots of already lit Christmas lights, and of course, my annual list of things for which I am not thankful:

The U.S. health care industrial complex

Attention-seeking billionaires

Election deniers

Multiple charging cords for electronic devices

Vehicle oil change reminder lights

Tik-Tok

Phone calls labeled ‘potential spam’ and ‘no caller ID’

Stores that don’t have an ‘email only’ receipt option

Rapidly rising interest rates

Vladimir Putin

Federal loan forgiveness of any kind without a community service requirement

Vikings playing football on Thanksgiving and messing up the day

Pulling (Me From) The Thread

First, there was the alphabet.
Then there was the printing press.
Then there was a messenger system.
Then there was a postal service.
Then there was a telephone.
Then there was facsimile.
Then there was email.
Then there was text messaging.

And that’s where we reached the point at which communication started to be less than good.

What makes me say this?  Bad habits, for one.  Non-verbal communication has always been worse than verbal, or in-person communication.

But lately, what makes me say this is being included in large group text message threads.  This week, and many others before it, I’ve been included in group texts in which certain group members feel compelled to reply to all, again and again and again.  So my phone goes off again and again and again, for messages I don’t want or need.

I probably should be glad to be considered worthy of being included in these threads.  Instead, I can’t wait until the messages fade away, assuming I can’t extract myself from the conversation beforehand.

Listen everybody:   If you are included in a large group text (or email message), do not feel compelled to reply to everyone unless it’s requested.  Otherwise, just reply to the sender individually.

No one else needs to know what you think.

Maybe even the original sender.