Texting is such a big part of our lives as college students. It’s how we make plans, get answers and ultimately create friendships. Texting helps shape our relationships with other people, so it’s important to keep up with our texting etiquette. Unfortunately, it’s very easy to miscommunicate something through text even though we mean well (most of the time). Here are some tips to be a savvy and conscious texter.
Check that you’re texting the right person.
Texting the wrong person by accident is one of the easiest mistakes to make and can be one of the most detrimental ones. Let’s admit it, there were a couple of times you ended up sending texts about someone to that very someone. It’s an awkward situation that should be avoided at all costs. It happens to the best of us, but all it takes is a little extra reading at the top of the chat to see that you are indeed texting your best friend instead of your crush.
Text back in a timely fashion.
Texting someone back literally takes a minute max, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that easily. Maybe you didn’t see the text fast enough. Maybe you saw the text, but just forgot to answer. Maybe you just didn’t want to text back. There are a million excuses to give, but making the effort to text back quickly is a friendly gesture that we should all make use of. Usually when someone texts, they’re looking for a quick reply. Just keep that in mind when you get a text or when you want to text someone.
Try not to send one-word answers.
One-word answers can give the wrong impression to some people. It can seem like you don’t care or don’t want to talk to them. That might be the actual case, but try to keep things friendly. Maybe add a smiling emoji to the end of that “nice” to let the person know you’re saying it in good spirits.
Don’t leave the other person on read.
Leaving someone on read is pretty rude. It means that you acknowledged the other person’s text, but couldn’t take the time to reply. To avoid coming off rude, you can turn off your read receipts. If you don’t want to do that, you can also just not open the message until you’re ready to reply. This way, the other person doesn’t read into your non-responsiveness too much.
Send an emoji if you want to kindly end the conversation.
There’s no way to officially end conversations through texting. They just usually go on until someone stops replying, but an emoji is a nice way to actually end it because it’s not something the other person is obligated to respond to.
Overall, knowing how to navigate conversations through text is a skill and it’s a useful one. Whether it be texting your friend you just met or even your mom, know how to be a savvy texter.
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