Opinion On Different Types Of Texters

Reagan Bouchard

Ding! Ding! Ding! There goes the phone again. I wonder who could be texting me…

Could it be the person who sends my name a thousand times to grab my attention, or the person who sends the essay-long messages? Could it be the one who only ever types in capital letters, or the one you can barely read because of the number of typos? Oh, and you can’t forget the perfect punctuation texters that act like they are being graded on it, nor the dry texters that will refuse to participate in a real conversation.

Ding! Ding! Ding! As my phone goes off more and more, I have my answer. I look at my phone, and it says 12 missed messages. I click on them to see only my name repeated 12 times. It might be urgent, so I replied, but the only thing they wanted was the least important thing possible. For example, once I responded and the text I received was, “I had chicken nuggets for lunch!!” I just absolutely love the constant text messages that only contain my name appearing on my screen. 

Similar to the texter who repeats names until they get a reply, there is also the texter who will only write one or two words per text. I sit there, staring at my phone, as one by one the sentence forms. It takes a good twenty texts to get their point across, but at least they type fast.

The opposite of the one-word texter is the one who fits a whole essay into one text. Whenever I receive a text like this, I’ll look at it and almost put it away because it looks like so much to read. That may just be because I’m lazy. At least they get all they want to say in one text and not in 10 separate ones. 

Being constantly screamed at through text can be a little intimidating, but it depends if they are yelling at me, or if they are just excited. To grab my phone, and in all caps it reads, “PICK UP YOUR PHONE!!!” You’d think this means an emergency, but as I look through my past conversations, they are all in caps, for no reason. At least they are enthusiastic.

One day, my friend and I were planning a time to hang out. Little did I know how difficult it would be to plan because I couldn’t read what they were saying. They would text me things like, “i ma rfee ta 2:3 0,” which translates to, “I am free at 2:30.” I don’t know how they can type that many typos; next time I’ll just call. 

Have you ever read a text and thought you were grading it? It’s fine if it has some punctuation and such, but the people who add colons, commas, and semicolons are over the top. A text isn’t supposed to be a long, graded paragraph. It’s just supposed to be a quick little text; you can abbreviate, misspell, and write in fragments.

When I want to have a good conversation, this is usually not the person I go to. These texters usually respond with a one-word answer and the conversation ends. It’s fine if it’s every once in a while; everyone has done it at some point. However, if it is always just a one-word answer, maybe they just don’t want to be contacted. 

After texting all day with all these different types of people, my thumbs hurt. I’ll go to bed and do it all again the next day. Everyone texts in their own way, and I’m not saying I’m the perfect texter because I most certainly am not. I’m the type that will read the text one second, and then forget it the next. I probably won’t respond unless I get another text, and sometimes that may not even be a given. So I guess, I’m the ‘leave you on READ texter.’