The Verge Weekend Questionnaire: Tech Habits of Interesting People

What Is The Verge Weekend Questionnaire?

Every Saturday morning, while most people are still reaching for their coffee, The Verge drops something a little different into the world: a candid, rapid-fire interview with someone genuinely worth hearing from. That's the premise behind the Verge Weekend Questionnaire, a recurring feature that pulls back the curtain on how fascinating people — musicians, developers, politicians, authors, and content creators — actually live with technology.

Think of it as a spiritual successor to the beloved Five Minutes on the Verge series. But where that format was rooted in video, the Weekend Questionnaire leans into the written word, delivering unfiltered, personality-packed answers from a rotating cast of guests. It's one of the most refreshingly human things a major tech publication has produced in years, and if you haven't been following along, you're missing out.

Why These Interviews Matter in a World Drowning in Tech Content

The internet is saturated with tech coverage — hardware reviews, software announcements, funding rounds, layoffs, and endless speculation about what Apple will do next. But what's often missing is a grounded, personal perspective. How does a working musician actually feel about the apps competing for their attention? What does a legendary product designer's browser look like at 9am on a Tuesday?

That's precisely the gap the Verge Weekend Questionnaire fills. Rather than treating technology as an abstract cultural force, it asks real people how they navigate it, resist it, celebrate it, or quietly resent it. The result is a series that's equal parts entertaining and deeply revealing.

In a media landscape where think-pieces and hot takes dominate, there's something grounding about simply asking someone: what's the most indispensable app on your phone right now? The answers — honest, quirky, and sometimes surprising — say more about how we actually live with technology than any product review ever could.

Notable Guests and What They've Revealed

The lineup of Weekend Questionnaire subjects has been genuinely eclectic, and that's entirely the point. Here's a look at some of the standout participants and what made their interviews particularly memorable.

Benn Jordan: A Longing for Technology That Respected You

Electronic musician and composer Benn Jordan brought a refreshingly nostalgic and critical lens to his interview. Jordan's central theme was one that resonates with a growing number of people: a deep longing for the days when tech simply did what it was supposed to do — without tracking your every move, monetizing your attention, or quietly harvesting your data. In an era where even smart refrigerators seem to want your email address, Jordan's perspective serves as both a critique and a kind of mourning for a simpler digital past.

Cecil Baldwin: Tech Pet Peeves From the Voice of Night Vale

Cecil Baldwin, best known as the iconic host of the wildly popular podcast Welcome to Night Vale, brought characteristic wit and theatrical flair to his answers. Baldwin's interview gravitated toward the small but genuinely maddening frictions of modern technology — the pet peeves that accumulate quietly until you're screaming at a loading spinner on a streaming service you pay $15 a month for. His responses were funny, relatable, and a little melancholy in all the right ways.

Roger Linn: The MPC Legend and the Single Browser Tab

Perhaps no interview in the series has sparked more conversation than the one featuring Roger Linn, the designer behind the legendary MPC drum machine — a piece of hardware that fundamentally changed music production and continues to influence producers decades later. Linn's revelation that he insists on keeping only a single browser tab open at any given time struck a nerve with readers. In a world of 47-tab chaos, his disciplined approach to digital focus felt almost radical. It's the kind of small detail that tells you everything about a person's relationship with distraction.

Manoush Zomorodi: When There's Simply Too Much Tech

NPR journalist and Bored and Brilliant author Manoush Zomorodi has spent much of her career examining how digital technology affects human creativity, attention, and wellbeing. Her Weekend Questionnaire entry felt like a natural extension of that work. Zomorodi spoke candidly about the experience of living with too much tech — the cognitive weight of constant connectivity, the difficulty of genuine disconnection, and why boredom might actually be something worth protecting. Her answers were thoughtful and practical in equal measure.

The Format That Makes It Work

Part of what makes the Weekend Questionnaire so effective is its structure. The rapid-fire format doesn't allow guests to retreat into polished PR-speak or carefully managed messaging. When you're asked what GIF you've been sending your friends lately, there's no corporate answer. You just have to be a person. That authenticity is rare in tech media, and readers clearly respond to it.

Questions span a wide range — from the deeply practical (what app can't you live without?) to the nostalgic (what's your all-time favorite gadget?) to the delightfully absurd (what meme are you sending right now?). The range keeps every installment fresh while the consistent format makes it immediately accessible to first-time readers.

Who Should Be Reading This Series?

Tech enthusiasts who want more than spec sheets and release dates — people interested in the human dimension of the industry they follow so closely.
Creatives and makers who are curious about the tools and workflows of other creative professionals across disciplines.
Anyone feeling overwhelmed by technology who wants to know they're not alone — and might even find comfort or inspiration in how others navigate the same pressures.
Fans of longform personality profiles who appreciate the intimate, conversational quality of a well-crafted Q&A.

Why You Should Check Back Every Saturday

The beauty of the Verge Weekend Questionnaire is that you never quite know who's going to show up next. One week it's a pioneering hardware designer with a philosophy on browser tabs. The next it's a podcast host with a list of tech grievances that'll make you laugh out loud in recognition. The unpredictability is part of the appeal.

More importantly, the series asks questions that matter beyond the tech bubble. How do we stay focused in an age of infinite distraction? What does it mean to unplug — and can we still do it? What do the tools we love say about who we are and what we value? These aren't just niche concerns for Silicon Valley insiders. They're questions every connected person is quietly wrestling with, whether they work in tech or not.

So if you haven't already bookmarked the Weekend Questionnaire, this Saturday might be a good time to start. You might just find out which legendary inventor holds the Game Boy up as the greatest gadget ever made — and honestly, they might not be wrong.