I’ll have a couple of text chains with both sides of the family during this Saturday’s Duke-Carolina game. Tar Heel fans only.

Other text chains include a variety of people, even Dookies. Perhaps such communiqués are used to inform friends and family following an operation or the birth of a baby. Text chains pop up around the holidays, expressing thankfulness or wishing merriness.

My son’s basketball coach initiated a text chain to communicate details about practices and games. There’s always one parent who can’t remember the start time, even though we received the schedule at the start of the season. Who can be bothered to check their email anymore?

Sometimes, a text chain can feel like being shackled or bolted down. You can silence your messages or simply ignore them. You can also opt out of a text chain, although that can seem a little rude.

The best chains make you want to respond and participate. In other words, you feel connected, which is the hope of technology.

My wife has a decade-old chain with her hometown friends, women whom she’s known since preschool. Their lives are full of careers, marriages, and children. Some have moved out of state. They try to get together once a year for a weekend reunion, although sometimes the gathering is at the funeral of a parent.

Recently, they have been texting about the flu. Whether misery begets companionship or not, these friends undoubtedly love and support each other. The text chain helps them stay in touch, even if it’s with a GIF or meme.

I imagine that they’ll text over the weekend, too. While not all of them are Carolina alumnae, none of them went to Duke.


Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of the book with Wipf and Stock Publishers titled This Is the Day: A Year of Observing Unofficial Holidays about Ampersands, Bobbleheads, Buttons, Cousins, Hairball Awareness, Humbugs, Serendipity, Star Wars, Teenagers, Tenderness, Walking to School, Yo-Yos, and More. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he is a student of joy.


Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.