Does it make you feel anxious when people don't text you back?

Maybe she forgot to reply. No need to get anxious about it, you're overthinking. Put your phone away.

There is no obligation for people to text back straight away. I will read messages and if not an emergency, will reply at my convenience and will probably look at social media a few times before that. It would really annoy me if someone got annoyed at me for that!

Aeroplane mode. Notifications switched off. Need a break. Meant to respond but forgot. Responded but to the wrong person. Forgot to press send on response. Not sure what to say and is thinking on it.

Not at all. People have phones for their own convenience, and not that of others.
If you want a prompt reply, then call.

If I don’t text you back for a few hours, generally it’s because I need to check arrangements with DH or someone else. Sometimes I read a message in the car before I drive somewhere and then forget to reply. I might need to change plans before I reply about something. I’m not allowed a phone in my place of work, so text at certain times of the day.
Lots of reasons, OP.

Bloody hell, me and my mates can take days to reply to each other! 4 hrs is nothing.

@Nurseynurse665 if you need an answer quickly, why not phone? I, and all my friends, work on the basis that, if a message is important, then it gets a phone call. Any form of message (email / SMS / WhatsApp/ etc) can be replied to as and when the recipient has time / can be bothered.

Also this 👆👆👆

4 hours?! Bloody hell there’s no way we can be friends OP… if I hadn’t heard back from them for a week or two, maybe… but even then I’d assume the best and would follow up with a second message

I've taken more than 4 hours to respond to my DH on many occasions (as has he). I read the alert when it flashes up on my lock screen so I don't need to open it and often forget to reply.

OP I saw this on social media this morning -

No, it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. You’ve texted her about something that might be happening in ‘a few weeks’ so why do you need an instant answer?! If you can’t bear to wait for someone to reply to you, call them. But to me getting stroppy/stressed if you don’t get an immediate reply, about something non-urgent, just seems entitled and demanding. People don’t have to stop what they’re doing to give you instant attention.

Wouldn’t occur to me to be bothered I couldn’t care less. The only time I’m even remotely bothered about anyone messaging me back is if it’s time sensitive such as when do you need picking up, what time are we meeting today etc

No. I will reply when I'm ready. I'm not on 24 hour call.

No, I’d assume they were busy, or hadn’t noticed it, or had read it but weren’t in a position to reply immediately.

Depends, my brother always leaves me on read and I get a bit annoyed think ok rude, but if it's a guy I've been seeing and he ignores me after sex then I feel like shit.

So are you offering help because you actually want to help, or just to get recognition for offering?

But after 4 hours, no I wouldn’t think anything if it

I’m a bit but much less now as I realized that I also did this sometimes for an innocent reason. I’m out and about and do light stuff on SM like short replies or likes but to plan something I need to come home, sit and check my and DH’s calendars calmly. Some people might answer: will check and come back to you later. But most of them ( me including 😔) would just carry on and then would forget with other things and then remembered panicking at 1 am at the morning.
So nothing sinister about this approach.
Another thing is that people might have notifications for one thing but not for another. DH hasn’t got notifications on for WhatsApp messages for a while ( not intentionally) and it drove me bonkers as I couldn’t understand why he’s not answering a simple question.

No, it wouldn't make me anxious, it's only 4 hours. Unless I was worried for someone's wellbeing a lack of reply to a text is a non-issue really.

I often chuck my phone down and don't touch it for hours if I'm busy. Or I'll pick it up to stick something on Instagram quickly but not look at my messages. I don't feel the need to be constantly available to everyone in my life, everyone knows this, if it's urgent they'll call me.

Have you tried calling her? "Sorry to call just haven't heard from you and could do with an answer asap so I can make plans?"

No, sometimes my phone is in my bag, or I've left it upstairs. It's usually on silent so even if it's in front of me I might miss a text.

No it doesn't. It does make me feel annoyed if someone says 'you haven't replied to my msg but I can see youve been on social media' though..

That would make me angry ratter than anxious. I’d maybe be anxious if she hadn't posted on sm and I was concerned at not hearing from her for a while.

People will say that she doesn’t know the answer yet but the polite thing to do would be to write that in reply! Even if she’s reluctant, it takes a minute to write ‘let me think about it.’

So many ways to communicate nowadays but way less courtesy.