Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange
Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [texting]

For questions that involve sending text messages or SMS.

37 questions
85
votes
9 answers

How to get friends/partner to stop texting me pointless pictures/videos

I have a handful of close friends, including my partner, who frequently text me with a completely random picture or video of something cute and/or funny that they found on the internet. For example, a 2-minute video of a pool full of puppies, or an…
Slow loris
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68
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15 answers

How to let people know I don't appreciate being ignored in instant messaging?

When talking with people through instant messenger or texting, I find it rude when someone doesn't reply. The other day I had met up with someone I knew from school. He told me about a business idea he had, and expressed interest in working with me.…
pullover123
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36
votes
11 answers

How can I better control my desire (or need) to send long messages?

As far back as I can remember, my first Hotmail emails, T9-word texts, even handwritten letters—these events ages 10 to 16—I felt I communicated differently from others. In high school I kept private journals, sometimes filling up several pages in…
Andrew Cheong
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26
votes
5 answers

How to contact a girl whose number I got from somebody else?

Situation Some days ago I went to a concert of the band of a good friend, let's call him Alex. He and his bandmates, invited a lot of friends to support them. I know Alex pretty well since we've been working together closely for more than two years…
Fimbulvetr
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13
votes
6 answers

How to nicely remind someone to reply to an important message without being rude?

I have an appointment in another town, I asked a friend if I could stay the night at my friend's place through a text message. I would like a response from this person so that if I cannot stay at my friend's house, I can rent a hotel room. Normally…
OmamArmy
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13
votes
1 answer

Cellphone-obsessed friend (and driver)

I have a good friend who, in my opinion, uses his cell phone too much while we are hanging out. When we do things like go to dinner together as a group, he is often not paying attention, engrossed in his phone. During many conversations, sometimes…
Alex B
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9
votes
4 answers

How to reply to unknown texter?

Occasionally I receive a text from an unrecognized number. From the content of the text, the sender probably expects me to recognize their number. How can I reply politely that I have no idea who they are? For example, this text: "I know it didn't…
LN6595
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9
votes
4 answers

How do I approach my date about texting less?

I’m going on a first date tomorrow with a guy I matched with on a dating app a few days ago. In these past three days, I found him texting a bit more than I’m used to and it has caused some concerns for me. My question is how should I tell him that…
Storm
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8
votes
1 answer

How to react when my girlfriend allows others to insult me to her?

I've been dating my girlfriend for six months. She's a very nice person and always goes out of her way to make everyone feel happy and appreciated. She's kind no matter what others do/say to her. She's a fairly sociable person and our relationship…
MD XF
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8
votes
2 answers

How can I communicate better with my indirect friends as a direct person?

I am a very direct person. Say what you mean, mean what you say, nothing more, nothing less. Most of my friends of my same gender happen to be indirect. If I text one of my friends a question such as "Are you free this Thursday night to hang…
TonyStark4ever
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7
votes
2 answers

How to politely say 'I have a prior appointment' to a friend inviting me to a meaningful event, without going into details?

Recently, a friend invited me to an event that was important to her. I said "I have an appointment." but worry I may have blown her off. I didn't want to go into specifics - the appointment was for beauty (nails, etc). This is more important to me…
lifer
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7
votes
2 answers

The issue of phones (or how to politely read a text)

I have a flip phone that my parents use to contact me. Since only my parents contact me on it, I generally assume that if my phone dings, it's kinda important that I read it. For example, this past afternoon, my phone dinged in the middle of a…
Auden Young
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6
votes
3 answers

How can I politely point out to a non-native English speaker that they have used the wrong word?

I do a lot of communication through text, often with people who are not native speakers of English. Spelling and grammar mistakes can be quite common when speaking a non-native language and when I see someone that I'm talking with make a mistake, I…
Rainbacon
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6
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3 answers

How to find out if my text messages are appreciated?

This might be a very basic thing for many but love is definitely not my strong subject at all! There is a girl I like very much, long story short, we started to text each other around 3 - 4 times a day including weekends (since 3 weeks), we already…
JCO9
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6
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2 answers

Is reflective listening appropriate for text messages? Is there a better alternative?

In my experience, trying to practice reflective listening over SMS or other asynchronous messaging platform doesn't work. As a sender, if I send a reflection and we weren't deeply embedded in active conversation on both sides, I find that the other…
Adair
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