Interim Policy on Message Draft Abandonment
A typed but unsent message has been under revision since Tuesday and now exists in seven drafts across three apps.
SUBJECT
Message draft abandonment as documented in a single iMessage thread, recipient identified as "Jay (work?)."
BACKGROUND
The message was initiated on a Tuesday afternoon following a professional misunderstanding of moderate severity. The initial draft was approximately forty words. It expressed a position clearly and without ambiguity.
It was not sent.
A revised draft was begun within minutes of the original being abandoned. This draft was longer, softer in tone, and included a sentence beginning with "I just wanted to." This draft was also not sent.
Under the governing rule, any message draft abandonment performed twice must be repeated until the phone provides emotional certainty.
WHAT WAS FOUND
By Thursday, the following drafts had been completed and abandoned:
Draft 1: Direct. Abandoned. Reason: too direct. Draft 2: Diplomatic. Abandoned. Reason: unclear whether it communicated the original position. Draft 3: Casual. Abandoned. Reason: the situation was not casual. Draft 4: Formal. Abandoned. Reason: the relationship was not formal. Draft 5: Brief. Abandoned. Reason: brevity implied indifference. Draft 6: complete. Abandoned. Reason: length implied grievance. Draft 7: Emoji only. Still technically under consideration.
The message exists. It has existed for three days. Its meaning is fully understood by the person who will not send it.
A tiny uncertainty triggered the first abandonment. Each subsequent draft invented a new threshold. The threshold kept moving until the device was effectively supervising the person who bought it.
STATUS
The conversation still shows the subject as the last sender, which was a different message entirely, from three weeks ago, about a restaurant.
The draft remains open.
The phone has been checked nineteen times today. The message has not been sent. The phone has not explained itself.