If you send a text...

[L1nA]

...how quickly do you expect a reply?
Is it different for close friends, colleagues, acquaintances?

If I needed something urgently I would phone them (though I hate speaking on the phone!). I have friends in different time zones or who work different shifts so I send texts for them to pick up and reply to at their convenience.

A couple of days

Ideally within 15 mins but anything within 2 hours

Depends who I’m sending it to so yes, it is different depending on who you send it to.

Sister who has her own business, speak to several times a week, message every couple of days- would be weird if she hadn’t answered within an hour.

Mother who I speak to twice a week, message a couple of times a week but her phone is always in her bag so she always phones me back after I’ve tried to phone her- would text again if I hadn’t had a reply after 5 hours.

Husband-who is always contactable. I give him 15mins before I start sending hello??? Messages

Friends - a day or 3 before replies depending on which friend.

Dh: he'll wait until he can email me as then it's free.
Dc: depends if it's to their advantage or not.
Dm: Six weeks unless she's on holiday and then it's when she comes in range of signal.
Df: I don't think he's replied yet, and he got the phone about 3 years ago.

@L1nA As soon as I see the text, I text back virtually straightaway (or at least, as soon as I am able to.) I can't fathom why some people take a whole day - or 2-3 days or more - to answer a text!

I know several people who NEVER text back or answer a facebook messenger message for 1.5 to 3 days. Yet I see the 'message seen notification,' within an hour, and I see them posting on facebook, twitter, instagram etc, and I think 'ignorant fecker!'

I don't understand why people leave it so long (sometimes DAYS) to text people back!!! And yet these same feckers always bitch and moan and get huffy if you don't text THEM back within 5 minutes.

I also know a few people who never answer their fucking phone. NEVER. And rarely return my call when I leave a voicemail. Yet when I don't answer the phone or call them back within half an hour - (coz I am in the shower, or have left my mobile phone in the car, or the battery is flat, or there's no signal,) they go loco!!!

Very bizarre, and very 'me me me - it's all about MEEEEEE!' and 'I am SO important and speshul that I shall keep my subjects, and the peasants waiting... But they shall tend to me immediately!!!'

You find that (some) people like this, are the same ones who are always 'fashionably late,' who expect lifts and never offer any petrol money, and who borrow money/various items of yours and never offer it back.

@ForeverBubblegum

There's nothing more annoying then trying to plan a meet up, the conversation gets as far as "I'd love to meet tomorrow, what time are you free?" Then the other person disappears.

I hate this too. And for that reason, I don't arrange meet-ups and the like via text. I prefer to speak over the phone... (Or in person!)

I’m sure I’m not the only person in the world who doesn’t check their phone every five minutes. I can literally leave it in my handbag and not check it for days.

If it’s an emergency or urgent, they can phone me!

I wouldn’t expect a reply, full stop. Most of my friends would but plenty of them would ring if it was even slightly important. Texts that are just ‘how are things?’ easily get lost amongst the kerfuffle of the evenings after work and I assume everyone I know is in the same boat.

Different if it’s a business or suchlike message (eg Scouts), I answer those as soon as I see them. But my phone would be in my bag at work so it could be several hours.

I turn my phone off when we go away and nobody has ever mentioned that it’s been at least a fortnight before I reply.

I’m 39, before anyone assumes I’m my DM’s age. Have plenty of friends but we just don’t stay in touch like that.

Depends on multiple factors.

I rarely check my phone it’s a great source of irritation to others who text me. Sometimes I take days to reply.

I don't keep my phone next to me, so could potentially go the day without checking it. I'm more likely to be found on the computer, so email or messaging me gets a quicker response....

I normally respond within the hour if I’m not at work and have to remind myself that many others don’t. I reply within the hour out of work as my phone is not on silent and normally within earshot as DD at uni so I like to be contactable.

If my DD is home from uni and everyone in the house I don’t check my phone as often.

Probably within about 48 hours. Some people reply fast though, so if I don't hear from them within a couple of hours I would start to wonder what is up. Other people always take longer. It has more to do with the personality of the receiver than their relationship to me.

Genuinely don’t ‘expect’ a reply as I would be annoyed if I didn’t get one. Most friends or family within a couple of days sometimes a bit more with friends. We are all busy with family, children and life stuff. But none of us are particularly reliant on our phones.

• as in I would be annoyed

I reply as and when depending on what the text says and what I'm doing. Sometimes i am able to reply straightaway, if it's an easy answer and I'm in a position to answer. Other times, i may need to re-jig things or wait for other plans to slot into place before i get back to the texter. Sometimes i just think 'oh, I'll do that in a minute' and it drops off my radar and can be forgotten. No one size fits all, here.

24 hours

I think it also depends on context. So if it’s not a matter of urgency I usually finish what I’m doing before I reply.

If I’m not at work( in a classroom without access to phone) then generally by my next break so not longer than a couple of hours. If not at work then within 30 minutes generally. Even if I don’t know an answer I will respond to say I’ll get back to them. I hate the tumbleweed and don’t understand what takes more than a day?

@Redonion123 how can they phone you if you don’t have/check your phone for days?????

Nothing said in a text is urgent, if it were, I would call.

It may take me several hours to comply, as I don't check my phone very regularly.

reply, not comply