How to Properly Communicate Over Text

Feature
By Ashton Wimbury
Husky Herald Reporter

  Texting can be quite complicated.  Considering people overthink what is being said and it is possible for messages to be misinterpreted.  

  It can truly take strategic ability to properly communicate over text.  So ask yourself,  what must you do in order to master the “art form” of texting?

  First things first, stop with the constant “lol”, or “haha”, odds are, it is not funny.  People have a tendency to put it after what is being said or they simply do not have anything else to say, therefore they opt to supposedly laughing.    

  There is typically one person to carry the conversation more so than the other, yet there should be balance.  If you are the individual slacking, put effort in or just stop texting.  Just don’t text that person if you don’t feel like it, it is that simple.  Although if you are the only person that is putting in the effort, maybe just end the conversation.

  Misinterpretation is a significant problem with texting.  Since you cannot hear the person saying it, you do not know their tone or how they are necessarily feeling.  

  If you are overthinking the messages you receive, stop.  The other person is probably communicating normally.  

  “I can’t stand when people misinterpret the tone of my text, I hate that,” said Garrett Lance (‘16).

  Excessive emojis are not cute. They do not count as words. Sometimes there is an exception but not all the time.  That shows that you are not the best at keeping the conversation, but you attempt to cover it up with emojis.  You aren’t fooling anyone.

  A lot of the time when people are texting a person they like or have a crush on they ask themselves “Do I text right away or wait?” Text the person when you can.  If you cannot reply right away then you can’t. Don’t wait a long time on purpose to text back.

“I like when people read and reply right away because if I were getting attacked by the Tasmanian Devil, they could save me,” said Mike Mahaffy (‘16).

  Grammar errors are a common issue when it comes to texting, which is understandable at times.  However, if you do not know the difference between their, there, they’re,  your, you’re, or to, and too, you should reevaluate on whether you should be texting or not.  So if you do not know the difference between them I advise you to google it.

  There are two types of people, those that have read receipts on and those that do not.  Some like it on because then you can see whether someone has read the message you sent.  Others prefer having it off because they just do not care when others see the message.

  “I prefer read receipts off, ignorance is bliss,” said Carmen Rankin (‘16).

  People have different ways of texting, but it’s in everyone’s best interest to follow this advice in order to become a “texting expert”.