I'm No Longer Having Conversations Over Text Message

I’ve been dabbling with dating here and there for the past few months. As I’ve done so, the thing that has continued to confuse me is texting. I don’t understand the rules. I don’t understand why guys text, don’t say much, and then continue these thin gestures for weeks. I don’t understand the huge delays after they’ve initiated a conversation. What I do understand is…I don’t like it. And I’ve decided that I’m no longer doing it.

So from now on, I’m no longer having conversations through text messages unless there is some form of an established baseline friendship that makes this an appropriate way to communicate.

From now on, these are the only forms of texting that I’ll allow from strangers:

“Happy Birthday!”

“Hey, are you free Friday at 7pm?”

“Are we still on for Tuesday at 2pm?”

“I made it home.”

That’s it.

Before you tell me this is extreme, let me further state my case.

As I thought about it, I realized that this is how women communicate with each other over text message all of the time. When we’re getting to know each other for networking or to build a friendship, we don’t text each other unless it’s to make plans to meet up in person. It’s only after months or years of establishing a friendship that we then begin to text regularly. Why do we communicate with men differently?

I’m going to do this as a social experiment for the entire year. I'll let you guys know how it goes.