Too Slow to Talk

Scott Hardie | July 28, 2019
One of my pet peeves with modern texting culture is that you seem to be expected to respond at all times. I'm busy and I get a lot of messages and other demands on my time, and compartmentalizing my time is how I deal with all of my responsibilities. Thus, I don't just drop what I'm doing to respond to a message. I respond when I have time, typically within 24-48 hours. But twice in the last month, people seem to have taken my lack of quick response as a sign of disinterest, and gave up on the conversation despite my further attempts to reach them. I know that I'm in a small minority on this and the burden is on me to start acting like everyone else, but it's still an irritation.

Have you had trouble with this?

Erik Bates | July 28, 2019
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Samir Mehta | July 29, 2019
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Erik Bates | July 29, 2019
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Scott Hardie | July 29, 2019
The two people who seem to have mistaken my slow text responses for disinterest are both older than me, in their fifties. But in Sarasota, that IS younger people.

I prefer not to take a call when it comes in (see above about compartmentalizing my time), but voicemail is excellent for this. I can just listen to the recording later, or better yet, have Google Voice send me a semi-legible transcription over SMS of what the person said. Who wants to avoid calls AND avoid voicemail? I cannot fathom it.