What to Do When Your Texts Are Being Ignored

The two-word response that solves the problem before it becomes something bigger

I recently shared something exciting that happened via text message to one of my best friends, in anticipation that they would immediately respond with a similarly long response. I couldn’t wait until a phone call, and just wanted to tell them as soon as possible.

But then two hours passed.

Then three.

Then ten.

Then the next morning arrived and I woke up to still no response.

The text message was supposed to be exciting and fun, yet suddenly I felt really disappointed. Why were they ignoring my message? Did they not care about me? The annoyance began to creep in. The loneliness. I found myself resolving to ignore them back if they ever decided to respond to my message, to let them know I was upset. It was childish, but it was my immediate reaction.

But hold up, what am I doing to myself? When did it become this way?

Texting can be exhausting. The little nuances that come with grammar and punctuation, the art of emojis, the psychological differences between sending big paragraphs versus many short messages, and now we even have tapbacks to choose from — is a…