People have lives and you must acknowledge that
By Carlos Bilan, Staff Writer
Texting or instant messaging is an amazing form of communication, which is made possible thanks to technology. While it is nice—and technologically possible—to receive a text back immediately, there are times that this simply cannot happen.
For instance, if a person is busy, then they should not feel obligated to respond immediately. The lack of response could leave one anxious and jumping to conclusions, thinking “Is this person ignoring me on purpose?” This could be the case depending on the context of the text, especially when it comes to risky texts. However, there is a higher probability that the person is most likely just busy or otherwise occupied with something that is preventing them from texting back immediately.
When I instant message people, I sometimes have to stop replying in order to address an urgent errand. This errand can potentially last a long time. Sometimes I have the time to say “be right back” but sometimes I don’t. It should be expected that when a person stops replying in a middle of a conversation, that something popped up that is preventing them from replying. Don’t send a double text like “You there?” when it happens, because the person is most likely not there.
If the matter you are texting about is really urgent or an emergency, then you should give the person a call. However, you must also realise that the person may literally not be available to take your call. In that case, leave them a voice mail or turn back to texting. If it’s on a topic that isn’t time sensitive, don’t be upset if the conversation stops in the middle, or the person stops replying for a while, and don’t get stressed out if you are not able to respond immediately, either.
If the person did not reply on purpose, then there must be a bigger reason behind it. Perhaps you two aren’t close enough to be having such a conversation, or the person might have interpreted it as a text that did not really need a response. You must remember that people need their personal space, and that applies to instant messaging.
Texting is amazing, but you have to consider the opposite party’s circumstance and how you both have lives outside of message bubbles.
