People reply less and less these days

That's sad.

If it’s a message about specific arrangements like this, then I would usually reply same day (though not necessarily straight away if I’m at work, on my out, with company, or otherwise busy).

However, if it’s a longer text, and not relating to any specific plans, then I might take longer to reply.

Cru thats great. Yes people need to make an effort. I met a few friends in May it was great. It drifts off if we dont meet

Agree OP - and then complain later that they have no friends.

God forbid you should be contacted by people you apparently like!

On the back of this thread, I messaged a friend I haven’t seen for a while and now we are meeting up tomorrow for a coffee.

For fellow voice note haters, the Transcribe feature is your friend!

Cru I have a few friends they will reply about meeting up. But reading posts on here people must never meet anyone! I do feel nobody replies now these days.. puts me off planning things

So if someone messages you to say “Hi! Are you free to meet for a coffee on Saturday at 10am?” do you reply right away or do you leave them hanging?

Social media fatigue. I hate it when people message me all the time. Having to reply to ten different people a day is very time consuming and boring. Especially if you’ve been on a screen at work all day. If people want to chat, I’m happy to meet up, but I don’t want to spend time on a screen texting.

I am someone who rings people too (only a handful though).

I’m in a couple of minds about this. It’s not great to be at the beck and call of WhatsApp but I’d be surprised if many messages need an instant response.

On the other hand, at some point it becomes rude to not reply to someone who has got in touch. Set aside 20 minutes every couple of days to respond.

I’ve noticed that a few people have started taking a break from contacting people for their mental health. The upside is that people know they won’t reply. The downside is that it sounds quite precious - it sounds terrible to tell people who like you that your contact is bad for their mental health.

An old friend called me unexpectedly the other day. It was absolutely lovely. I didn’t think something was wrong. I thought someone I cared about and enjoy talking to had called me, and I was happy about it. If it hadn’t been a good time, I would have just told her and we could have rescheduled. I know everyone seems to shudder with horror now at the idea of actually picking up a phone and talking to a human being, but personally I wish people did it more often.

I know what you mean but...
..oh sod it, I can't be bother to explain now, I might make some toast instead.

If the people messaging are friends why wouldn’t you want to reply?! Who sits twiddling their thumbs anyway- everyone’s on their flipping phones!!

I’m terrible at replying!! Honestly I’m just exhausted at the expectation I’m available 24/7 and have so many WhatsApp’s, messengers, LinkedIns, emails etc it’s relentless.

if it’s important they’ll send a follow up.

A warning.....because I want to talk to you. Why is talking to someone considered so threatening/unbearable? It's just communicating.

Not if you did it frequently.....

Well you'll have even fewer friends soon if you don't even have the time to chat to them! How can you be friends with someone you don't have time to talk to? It's pretty much the entire point of friendship.

What’s wrong with being lazy?

A lot of my generation hate phone calls though. There's more pressure to remember what was said for a start and it's easy to say the wrong thing. Whatsapp/text allows you to think about how you want to reply, or double check details.

If I want to speak with someone, I sometimes use text to check they are free to chat first, and many do that to me too, which is quite a good balance.

I personally find texting/WhatsApping too much, very anti-social. Occasional very quick messages, yes, but if you can't be bothered to speak with me then.......
I dont need a lot of human contact, but a heavy reliance on the likes of WhatsApp really grates on me, I find it a bit lazy.

I think random work group what's app or school class what's app its fine not to respond. There are 30-40 people in those chats. Most people don't. What I find annoying is when people who are meant to be close friends dont respond on a grp chat. Even when someone is trying to organise us meeting up or shares something upsetting about what's going on with them. I find that behaviour self centred and off putting. Its definitely more common.

I don’t even open voice messages.

I send back sorry can’t open on the phone 😅 they can either type it all out or it doesn’t matter.

I dont tend to not reply to voice messages. I hate them. Some people I know go on and on. I need a notepad to keep track of what theyre saying so I can reply. Plus I need to be in a quiet place to be able to hear. Its exhausting. So I dont bother

I see messages and then tell myself ill reply later when im not in the middle of something but then if a load of new messages come in after that it pushes the first one down the screen and its easy to forget to go back to it.

I just stick a thumbs up react on stuff now to show ive seen it if it doesnt need a full reply. Life is busy for a lot of us.