Ask Roger why he hates his cellphone. He hates it because he despises long text chains. He had been working on a project with four or five people, and they had to share a lot of information.
But once the narrative exceeded his screen length, he totally lost focus on what was being conveyed. Moreover, he had difficulty retrieving specific information.
He recently noted this to one of the participants. “I don’t see/perceive them well, so I can’t find information within them, and they gave me raging headaches. I am just better with email.
“I am old-fashioned (or just plain old) in that I generally use texts to say ‘I’ll be there in 15 minutes’ ot ‘Can we reschedule?'”
Moreover
Also, I was waiting for a callback from a good friend. I had the volume up to the maximum and STILL missed the call. About half an hour later, I saw their text, so I called them back.
Somehow, I’ve taken pictures I didn’t want to take and sent audio messages to people I didn’t intend to. I can be such a Luddite.
On the other hand, it lets me take silly pictures like this one.
This is a preamble to my periodic request for you to Ask Roger Anything. The aforementioned project ate up a lot of his time, and still does occasionally. Your clever, or flippant, or insane questions are just what he needs to alter his focus for a bit. Because he is a noble sort – or so he has deluded himself into believing that he is- he will answer almost any question, no matter how off-the-wall, and in short order.
Maybe try printing out important long text.
Beth – it was constant back-and-forth texting. Also, I have no idea how to print texts; that’s why I like email.
Hi Roger,
Here is a question for your ‘Ask Roger Anything’ hopper:
Knowing that you have such an appreciation for music and a JEOPARDY! background, what is a song you can instantly identify from literally the first split-second of notes?
I’ve been playing a music guessing game recently called songless unlimited (where you only get a tenth of a second to start), and it’s fascinating how our brains can retrieve audio cues so quickly, whereas scrolling through endless cellphone text threads just gives us headaches.
Hope you get some well-deserved relief from long text chains, and looking forward to your answers!
I totally agree with you I would rather call or e-mail
Long group text chains can turn a straightforward project into a stream of repeated updates, missed details, and unclear decisions. The frustration described here points to a useful distinction: a phone is fine for quick coordination, but a shared workspace is often better when several people need to track files, decisions, and next steps. Establishing one summary thread or document can reduce the noise without requiring everyone to abandon texting entirely.
Long text chains become especially frustrating when a small project group is trying to share information and no one can easily see what has already been decided. A simple practice that helps is moving decisions, files, and next steps into one shared reference point, then using messages only for alerts or brief questions. That preserves context without asking every participant to reconstruct it from a scrolling conversation. Clear communication also makes it easier for people to respond on their own time.