If you’re like me, texting is your holy grail for communicating with others because it buys you time to formulate your discombobulated thoughts into coherent sentences. It saves you from having to present yourself as engaged and quick witted during a face to face interaction, which can be draining and stressful. Basically, it puts you in control of the situation and it’s also super convenient.
Instead of stopping on the street to catch up with an old friend that you haven’t seen in ages when you’re already 10 minutes late to Zoom University, you can reply to that same friend’s spontaneous Instagram DM after you’ve caught a breath in between your hectic schedule. The beauty of texting is that you can also customize your tone and delivery, and even try on different hats depending on the recipient.
Talking to a cutie on the dating app that you’ve downloaded for the seventh time? You have time to think of a clever pick-up line response. Best friend reaching out to you because she thinks her relationship is falling apart and she’s devastated? Texting allows you to take a step back and think about what words would best comfort and support her while she’s in such a vulnerable state. As you can see, texting is multifaceted. It can be a fun and casual way to pass the time, and it can also be a space for intimate and deep heart to hearts.
So, what do your texting preferences say about you?
If you’re heavy-handed with the emojis:
You’re either a people pleaser who doesn’t like to upset others so you overcompensate a normal text like “Ok” with three smiley emojis, or you’ve got a bubbly and fun personality, so you use emojis to reflect your animated demeanor.
If you use curt responses and a lot of acronyms:
You’ve got people to see and places to go. Most likely, you’re an outlier who isn’t addicted to their phone, and you’d rather spend time tuning your guitar than getting thumb aches from scrolling on TikTok for too long.
If you have 100+ unread messages:
You take satisfaction in knowing that you’re on people’s mind because at one point during their day, they felt compelled to reach out to you. The reasoning also could be that you’re drowning in way too many units and maybe need to reevaluate why you’re overwhelming yourself with work during the heyday of your college years.
If you have a lot of text messages from unnamed numbers or 5-digit numbers:
You are prime preying ground for telemarketers, scammers, and political canvassers. Maybe you forget your password far too often. Either you need to be more careful about sharing your information or you need to get a new number. It also could be that you’re an avid petition signer or best friends with the Resistbot, and to that I say, stick it to the man.
If you use the “tapback” feature to thumbs up, thumbs down, heart, or emphasize a message:
You are attentive and a thoughtful listener. You want to make sure whoever your texting feels heard and that you resonate with what they are saying. You also gain satisfaction from pressing down on messages and feeling the sensation it makes on your thumb when in contact with your screen. #oddlysatisfying
If you’re an avid voice memo user:
You probably prefer calling and are kind of out of your element in the iMessage app terrain. Maybe the person you’re texting is irrationally afraid of the spontaneous calls and FaceTimes you love, but either way, kudos to you for being a bigger person and accommodating their preferences.
If you’re still using game pigeon, quarantine has unleashed a boredom within you that you never knew was possible:
Maybe your semester is smooth sailing, so you’ve got ample free time or maybe you just miss playing 8 ball and cup pong so much that you’ve settled for its virtual version. You’ve also probably dabbled in Minecraft and tried your hand at Among Us. Hey, whatever gets you through these strange dystopian times.