From flirting to sexting to drunk texting your ex, this article looks at the different texting mistakes that people too often make. These blunders can fill you with regret and can even break apart friendships and relationships. Here is a quick reminder of some of 15 of texting’s most major “Dont’s”
Texting Your Ex
Hold yourself back whenever you feel the urge to text your ex. Whether it is for your ex’s birthday or because you want them back in your life, you will definitely regret texting them.
Don’t let your emotions get the better of you. Calm down and think again—why do you even want to talk to your ex? A few deep breaths and some mature reasoning should be all you need to stop yourself from texting something you’ll regret later.
Sending Nudes
iPhones and other smartphones have made it really easy to take great selfies—with or without clothes. Never let the ease of taking such selfies let you get carried away. Make it a rule that you will never send a naked picture of yourself to anyone by text.
Remember that you will never be able to take back that message. Even if you send it to your boyfriend or girlfriend, there are no guarantees that they will delete it if and when you break up.
There are heaps of things that can go wrong. Apart from the fact that there will be a naked picture of yours lying in someone’s inbox forever, it can also be shared, edited, or even uploaded onto social networks.
Saying Bad Things About Someone Else
This applies especially to people who love to gossip. Apart from the fact that talking about someone behind their back is not a good thing to do in the first place, doing it by text can create more problems.
Your text could be shown to other people, including the person you were saying bad things about. Unless you are talking to a friend who you trust with your life, avoid saying nasty things about other people by text. You never know who that text could be forwarded to.
Being Too Flirty
Flirting through text is the stuff puppy love is made of. It’s fun and exciting, but don’t let this excitement get the better of you. Lots of people like to share their flirty conversations with their best friends or even colleagues.
This isn’t meant to dissuade you from being flirty over text, but you should try not to cross the line—the last thing you would want is to find out later that your naughty texts were being read by all the friends of the person you were sending them to.
Breaking Rules
Depending on your situation in life, there are a few rules that you can break that will probably have a huge impact on your life.
For example, suppose you flirt with a colleague at work over text—those texts could possibly get you fired from your job. Be careful when sending texts that can land you into a lot of trouble.
Texting Too Much
Don’t take your love for texting to the extreme by sending too many messages over different platforms. People will take your texts for granted and may even start ignoring you.
It is one thing to chat with your bestie all day long, but don’t do it with every single person in your phone book.
Texting While Drunk
Drunk texting happens when you’ve had a drink too many. You are likely to write something that is either too nonsensical to understand or something that becomes embarrassing the next morning.
Something as silly as a few drunk texts can snowball into a conversation that you regret having later. You could unknowingly reveal some of your embarrassing secrets and feelings about people—the possibilities are endless and when you drunk text, you will never be able to take those words back.
Not Replying
Wouldn’t you hate it if you sent a text to someone and they never replied? That is exactly how other people feel when you don’t reply to their texts. Unless you have decided to ignore that person for a specific reason, don’t procrastinate replying to a text.
Frustration, anxiety, and unnecessary confusion can follow when texts go unanswered for too long. Best friends could fall out, arguments could send a couple’s love life into a tizzy, and colleagues might start giving each other bad vibes.
Being Needy
Don’t send a text saying, “Did you get my last text?” to someone after you have already sent a message to them. Use a little bit of common sense—either they have not seen the message or they don’t want to reply.
You will come across as clingy and needy if you do this again and again. You may even be perceived as a person who doesn’t have a life because you have nothing better to do.
For example, suppose you sent your crush a flirty text. A couple of hours pass, but you still don’t get a reply. Avoid sounding like a loser by sending another text asking your crush if they read your earlier message.
Taking Texts at Face Value
Text messages tend to be overanalyzed all the time. People start reading between the lines and try to find a hidden meaning, even when there is none. This leads to confusion and bad vibes.
For example, when a guy sends, “Hey let’s hang out together” to a girl, it could easily be misinterpreted as meaning that he likes her. While some assumptions are unavoidable, don’t overanalyze text messages. It is a one-way street to frustration. Learn how to take texts at face value.
Admitting Mistakes
Admitting mistakes through texts is probably one of the silliest things people do. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that that text could come back and haunt you later.
Whether it is something as cute as saying a white lie to your boyfriend or something more serious that could get you in trouble, never rant about your mistakes in a text. Even if you are having a conversation with your best friend and you want to confess something you did, stop texting and give them a call instead.
Not Evaluating a Text Before Sending It
The things mentioned in this post apply to teenagers, adults, girlfriends, boyfriends, colleagues, husbands, wives, and people from all walks of life. However, there may be some things specific to your situation in life that haven’t been mentioned.
While it is impossible to make texting foolproof, make it a rule to quickly read your text before you hit “Send.” Those few extra seconds may save you from embarrassment and social fallout later on.
