It amazes me how many people I know do not respond to their text messages. The fact that the technology era has placed a wedge between people as most prefer to text than to pick up the phone and say "hello" is no new news but the fact that people completely ignore a text is mind-boggling to me. Some people ignore them outright for days at a time. Then there are those who engage in a text conversation and disappear midway through. I imagine physically engaging in a conversation with someone and just walking away while they are speaking and never coming back to close out the conversation. Or having someone walk up to me and share a thought or ask me a question and just staring at them, saying nothing. These examples, to me, are the equivalent of ignoring or not responding to a text. If we would not behave this way in a face-to-face conversation then why do we feel it is acceptable to do so via text? Have we really all gotten so self-centered that we cannot take a minute to show common decency and respond to someone? Have we truly convinced ourselves that we are justified in our busyness to basically outright ignore someone? Even when I was working full time while raising children, I always made it a point to respond to each and every text. I feel confident that no one has ever felt ignored by me. Yes, I used to get really offended when this would happen to me. When the Covid era started I felt so optimistic that things would change, that people would change. After all, how can we not be more sensitive in our communication with others when death is lurking all around us? Nowadays I no longer get offended it just downright confuses me. I can't relate to seeing responding as an option. I see it in my social circle and I see it happening in my children's circle. Now that they have phones they too are bewildered when their friends don't respond. Ironically, it is the very same children who have parents guilty of text evasion that do not respond themselves. Could this possibly be genetic? Here is a tip for those of you who have good intentions but poor organizational skills: at the end of the day, before going to sleep, check your text messages and respond to everyone you were not able to respond to earlier in the day. Just take the two minutes to respond.
