Can we talk about texting for a second? Have you ever thought about how many stupid rules there are? There are various rules and norms that come with texting. We’ll call it texting etiquette. Where they came from, I’d love to know. I’d like to debunk the variety of (stupid) texting manners.
Fact: Texting first won't kill you
OK, here we go, ladies. When did texting first become the biggest effing hassle? First, no guy is ever going to be like, “Would you believe that really pretty girl just texted me? The nerve of some people!” Men love it! Not only is it less effort guys have to put in, it’s refreshing to switch things up as the responsibility of texting first sometimes is a lot to handle. Second, what do you have to lose? The worst case scenario he doesn’t reply. You’ll get over it. Third and final reason, if you text first, you’ll be relieved because you no longer have to wait for him to text first. We both know you have better things to do with your time than wait around for a guy to text you. You want to talk to him, right? It’s a two-way street. Text him.
Fiction: Your read receipts being on or off define you.
There are three types of people in this world: People with their read receipts on who open texts even if they have no intentions of replying, people with their reads on who purposely don’t open messages and people who have their reads off because they’re *~mysterious~*. To those with their reads on and don’t care if people know they read their text, good for you. You know your reads are on and sometimes you still don’t reply. You DGAF, and I love it. To those with their reads on but act like they aren’t, get real. Ignoring their message as though you don't have read receipts accomplishes nothing. If you really want to ignore them, open the text. To those who have their reads off entirely, keep doing yo thang. Read receipts do not define you as a person, just merely a texter, which is completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of everything ever.
Fact: It is OK to reply when a text is received.
So you texted him, he replied three hours later, and you wonder when is a good time for you to reply. You know, because you don’t want to seem too eager, but you also want to show that you’re cool and don’t care about his text (but you do). My suggestion for waiting time is to not wait long at all. You want to talk to him, don’t you? Maybe hang out? It’s not likely waiting another three hours to text back is really going to make a difference in his mind. I understand you don’t want to reply the second you get the text; I’m just saying don’t wait that long because you know you want to keep talking to him. However, if he is regularly taking three hours to reply, maybe find someone with a smaller time gap.
Fiction: The no reply means all hope is gone.
You’ve been formally slapped with that “no reply." It happens. Maybe he’s busy, maybe your text didn’t elicit a response, maybe he simply doesn’t want to talk to you. But before you deem that guy a jackwagon and/or completely swear off boys because he hasn’t replied in an hour, take a step back. He probably has a solid reason, and if he doesn’t, then he’s not worth texting anyway. Moral of the story, the world is not over if he doesn’t text back the same way the world is not over when the delivery wait time is more than 45 minutes.
It is 2016, girls can text first, you can have your reads off, you can reply .5 seconds after you get a text and just because he didn’t reply doesn’t mean hates you. I realize this article implies my thinking about the subject, but as a whole, I think as a society we’ve focused too much on the rules and norms that come with texting. Who really cares that you read their text but didn’t reply? Who cares that you’re a girl who texts first and DM slides on the reg? Just do you and don't think twice about it.
