7 Huge Texting Mistakes You Don’t Realise You’re Making

Thank God for texting, I don’t know what I would do without it. Texting makes our lives much easier because we don’t have to talk on the phone if we don’t want to, and we can be in quick communication with people we want to talk to whenever we want. However, it’s also a curse because we’re in constant communication with EVERYONE at all times.

Some people aren’t good at texting – so it’s best for everyone if we adhere to texting etiquette guidelines:

Thinking You Have To Text Back ASAP

We live in a world of constant communication where everything is instantly accessible. It makes it extremely difficult to manage expectations with texting because presumably, everyone is on their phones 24/7. But breaking the cycle by not being owned by your phone is really important. Do yourself a favour and chill out when it comes to your texts. I’m not saying you should ignore your friends, but you don’t have to respond to everything immediately. Making yourself a little less available will train people into not expecting you to text back right that second.

Getting Mad When Someone Doesn’t Respond To You Right Away

You hate it when people get mad at you for not texting back when you’re busy or when you forgot to respond or when you had a response and never hit the send button. Other people are doing things just like you are. I know it’s annoying, especially if you need an answer for something (we’ll get to that), but it’s a text. You can wait more than two minutes for a text, I promise.

Ignoring Important Messages

I’m one of those people who will call if it’s something really important, but some people don’t do that. If someone texts you, and it’s a dire question or something they need to know at that very moment, then don’t ignore it. You have five seconds to respond to something big. If you’re busy, just acknowledge that you got it and will call them or text them when you have a minute.

Over-Using Emojis

I love emojis. If I could text strictly in emojis, I would. But I can’t because it doesn’t make sense and talking in emojis is extremely difficult and confusing. As much as I love emojis, they have a way better impact when used sparingly.

Having Important Conversations Via Text

Just like you shouldn’t ignore important questions via text, it’s also not really a good idea to have important conversations via text. Why? Well, you can’t convey tone in a text message, which makes things difficult if you’re having a serious chat. If something is actually important, give the situation the courtesy of a phone call or in-person conversation.

Using Chatspeak

You guys, it’s 2014. We have smart phones that correct our grammar and spelling. Why are we still saying things like “u out 2nite?” Talk like a real person in texts. It makes life so much easier instead of having to look back into your dictionary from 1995 to decode chatspeak.

Sending A Million Texts In A Row

You can send more than 140 characters in a text message. You do not have to text every sentence of a story or something in tiny little texts. Why are you sending five texts when you can just send one? Don’t blow up someone else’s phone for no reason. This isn’t instant messenger!