I am pretty terrible at texting. I don’t mean that I don’t know how to type a message and send it to a friend. I’m capable of that. Rather, I have trouble with the specifics of what to text, when to text, how much to text, etc. To elaborate a little more on what I mean, here is a list of some of the struggles I face and that you might face too:
1. Misreading tones of voice
Over text you obviously don’t hear someone’s tone or how someone is saying something. Things can easily be misunderstood. You may read something as super aggressive, but the person who sent it may have meant for it to be sarcastic.
2. Autocorrect
When I’m in a hurry, I type as quick as I can and send it without double checking. Once I finally have a moment to read it, I see that part of the sentence has been auto-corrected. I think most people can agree that the whole spell-check component of autocorrect can be useful, but other times autocorrect can just be a pain. Just the other day, I was texting my friends “ewwwww” and it autocorrected to “Reese.” Where did Reese come from? How does that make sense? What even is Reese?
3. Being Too Wordy
I am a wordy texter. I admit to it. I know it’s annoying. I text like I talk and I tend to talk a lot… I also tend to express thoughts in multiple texts, so if I didn’t send you a paragraph in one long text I am probably sending you five texts in a row explaining what I forgot to say in text number 2, which was probably explaining more details about what I meant in text number 1. I try to be concise with texting, but it’s hard.
One annoying thing about texting paragraphs to people is that I feel like I “try to hard” and I am putting in too much effort. I especially feel this way after I send a long explanation for something and then a friend just responds “k” or “cool”. That is definitely up there on my list of pet peeves.
4. Using “haha” or “lol” when things aren’t really even funny, to break awkward tension
I definitely overuse “haha.” It seems like everyone hands out “haha’s” as if they were candy on Halloween. And I bet you, basically every time someone types “haha” they didn’t even crack a smile. I’m guilty of it, I use haha when I don’t know what else to say or to break the awkward tension in a conversation.
Because I use “haha” all the time, when things are actually hilarious I have to end up typing “hahahahaha” or “HAHAHAHA” or adding a few of the crying/laughing face emojis. “Haha” just doesn’t cut it anymore.
4. Emojis
Emojis can make text conversations fun, and they can give a hint as to what someone may have reacted like in person if you saw their facial expressions. However, sometimes emojis are confusing, or can be interpreted differently person to person.
5. Feeling obligated to respond, but other people take ages.
If I see a text on my phone, I normally want to respond right away. I feel obligated to respond to whoever texted me. If I don’t respond for a long time, it is normally because I didn’t see the text in the first place. I am not someone who likes to deliberately not respond. That is another one of my pet peeves, people who definitely see your text (and you know because they just tweeted/snapchatted/etc. something, so therefore they have been on their phone) and they ignore it. They seem to take forever to respond; and it can just be frustrating, especially if you are trying to make plans.
6. Acronyms
I may have grown up in the 21st century, but there are definitely a ton of acronyms I’ve never seen/heard of before that people use in text. As I mentioned before I am a wordy texter, I am not great with the whole concise thing. So every now and then when friends use an obscure acronym, I have too look it up. It isn’t too hard to figure something out,because all you have to do is simply turn to Urban Dictionary and type it in, and your confusion is cleared.
Although I do have my trouble with acronyms, I do at least know the basics, unlike this poor mother…
7. Keeping up with Group Chats
Everyone who has ever been in a group chat has experienced their phone blowing up with messages and feeling overwhelmed. It’s easy to get lost or behind in the sea of texts. Eventually after I’ve scrolled up and read through all the craziness, I’ll finally respond to that one question that was asked 30 questions ago, but no one seems to care anymore.
8. Forgetting my phone is on do not disturb
Now that I am back in the full-swing of school I keep my phone on “do not disturb” 95% of the time. Because of this I miss a lot of texts (especially from my roommate who needs something, sorry Brady). This stuff even happens if I am on my phone because my messages are being silenced. Again, this ignoring is not a deliberate act to ignore my friends, but rather a forgetful tendency.
Overall, we all have our difficulties with texting. Although it can be confusing and stressful at times, it’s also a great way to communicate quickly and stay in touch with friends.