I received an SMS from Thomann which informed me that my USB microphone had left their warehouse.

It felt good when I read that text. I wondered why this notification felt more personal than an email. It’s not because I received it on my phone, as I also use my phone to receive email.

I think it’s because I get different alerts for texts and emails.

An email alert does not warrant my attention in the short-term, as more often than not, the email is not important. The email is from a newsletter, or a developer mailing list, or something equally mundane.

On the hand I’m conditioned to expect texts to come from a person. So when I received the text alert, I assumed somebody I was close to, had sent me something. When I opened the text and saw it was from Thomann, I thought “That was nice of them to send that”, and it made the transaction seem personable.

I found my emotional response interesting, considering I knew it was an automated notification.