It’s that time of night again. Nope, not that time. We still have a few more hours until all else fails and it’s time to call Domino’s. First, we have to make an embarrassment of ourselves by drunk texting everyone in our phone book. And by everyone, more or less that hot guy who doesn’t know you even have his number, your ex-boyfriend, the guy you occasionally hook-up with, the guy you wish you were hooking up with, and all of your friends in-between freaking out about texting said person.
So what positive thing did we exactly think would come from this? Truth is that drunk texting is definitely worse than drunk dialing Domino’s. There are no benefits to drunk texting. None. And yet, we seem to think in an intoxicated state we can either craft a witty, charming, and grammatically correct text message to a guy we have our eyes on, or we can somehow fix all the problems with our ex-boyfriend and enjoy just one last night together. But honestly, the only benefit of drunk texting is the liquid confidence. We feel like we are on top of the world. We are brave and bold. We are strong, independent women who would simply like to engage in friendly conversation with the opposite sex. At 1 a.m. Just to make sure there was no possibility of it actually working out. We had to try, right?
Why not text the cute guy from Spanish class? Except for when he either doesn’t answer, asks the dreaded, “Who is this?” or actually engages in the conversation, and you soon find out he is sober in the library. Honestly, as long as the message didn’t say, “I’m secretly obsessed with you, will you have my babies?” then you are totally fine. A simple, “Hey, what’s up?” never hurt anyone. If he responds, then that’s fine. If not, just let it go.
Drunk texts most often get ignored. Let’s just keep it that way. It’s unnecessary to explain your messages the next day. He knows what it was all about. And if you want to keep your sanity, you could do what my friend does and delete all your drunk texts the next morning. Some say it may be living in denial, but hey if you want to pretend like it never happened then all the power to you girl.
But you should talk about drunk texts the following day if you got in a fight with you friend or your boyfriend. A drunk message shouldn’t ruin a relationship with anyone, so if you hit that send button then it needs to be discussed. Be the better person and hear out what the other has to say. Most of the time it is simple miscommunication. It is definitely not worth losing a friend or significant other over a drunken conversation that resulted in someone’s phone dying, which the other interpreted as the silent treatment.
Sending drunk texts usually results in embarrassment the next morning, but what about receiving them? Most collegiettes are flattered by drunk messages from the opposite sex. “I love them. It’s such a confidence booster. It means he’s thinking about me,” was one Bucknell girl’s response. Another collegiette said, “They’re flattering, but often don’t lead to anything good.” I find that to be very truthful. Sometimes we respond and engage in friendly conversation with the guy who is bold enough to make that move. Other times we ignore it. And sometimes it’s an ongoing string of “where are you”. That result will most likely depend on where your actual location is in relation to that person, and whether or not your more sober friend is around to decipher the context of the message.
Other times drunk texts are frankly awkward and uncomfortable. As one Bucknell girl points out, “If it’s someone I’m friendly with or have interest in then I’m flattered and amused, but if it’s someone who I’m uninterested in, then it’s awkward and often feels creepy. Especially if the texts are aggressive and he keeps texting me even if I don’t respond.” In which case, responding that you are just having a night with your girls might send him the message to stop trying.
So why do we drunk text? Isn’t there an app for that? There actually are several apps you can download to help prevent you from drunk texting. Most apps pop up with a warning asking if you are absolutely sure if you want to send the message. While it’s a good idea in theory, it’s unclear how effective these apps are. The way I see it, if you really want to send a message then you are probably going to find a way to do it. We do it because when we are drunk, we have the opportunity to go out of our comfort zone, and if we fail, we can blame it on being drunk. We all secretly know this, but it’s hard to stop because the rewards from drunk texting are usually immediate. He responds or he doesn’t. But don’t let drunk texts ruin your night. The Domino’s delivery guy has your back and is just one drunk phone call away.