Progress Report on Good Morning Flood
One good morning was sent to the group. Seven have now arrived in response. Nobody sends good morning to this group except in response to good morning.
Progress report: the good morning group chat. Period: The past month. Substantive messages: fourteen. Good morning messages: sixty-two.
The Mechanism
The good morning operates as a group attendance signal. It communicates: I am here, I am awake, I am maintaining my presence in this group. It requires nothing in response and produces a chain of responses anyway, because not responding to a series of good mornings feels like pointedly not responding.
The chain is produced by the silence rule: if everyone else has said good morning and you have not, you are either not awake, not checking the group, or have something against good morning. None of these are positions most people want to hold.
The Timing Distribution
Good mornings arrive between 7am and 10am. The majority cluster between 7:30 and 9am. Late good mornings (after 10am) carry a small implicit acknowledgment of the delay: "morning!" with an exclamation is different from "good morning" in the early cluster.
A good morning at 11am is sometimes accompanied by a comment about the time.
The Substantive Exchange Rate
Sixty-two good mornings produced fourteen substantive exchanges. The substantive exchanges included: weekend plans (three times), sharing an article (twice), a question about something group-related (four times), and individual topics that emerged from responses to good morning questions (five times).
The good mornings are the opening mechanism. Some of them open into real conversation.
The Function
The good morning group chat maintains the group's sense of activity during periods when there is nothing specific to discuss. The group has existed for three years. The substantive messages have been irregular. The good morning messages have been consistent.
Consistency is a form of maintenance.