The Most Annoying And Cringe-worthy Part About Texting Is…

There’s some charm about texting. I feel one really is more freer than he or she is face-to-face. The flirt in you really comes alive and shines there. But in contrast to a conversation over coffee or brunch, texting has its own downsides. I’m not actually talking about a slow text-er or someone who only replies to your long texts with ‘hmm’, ‘ok’, ‘yup’ etc. They no doubt are absolute putdowns. But they only disappoint you. They don’t scare you. But there are occasional, very rare moments in chats which mess with your mind, those that scare the shit out of you. The moment when you ask yourself, wait, what did I just do?

Most of the times when chats go long and deep, you get your mojo going, and juices just flow. You say stuff without worrying about their consequences. You feel confident that this won’t be misunderstood or that sarcastic remark which is so obvious, they’ll get. But no, that’s not how it unfolds. Suddenly, all of a sudden, person from the other side who otherwise sent repetitive texts even before you replied his/her previous ones goes silent. Sayonara. You don’t know what just happened. Your heart which is by now beating a little more than usual tells you that may be the person at other end just slept on their phone or got busy or just put some stupid reason your heart confines you with. But then your mind reminds you of every previous conversation where that person signed off with good byes or ‘ok.. I’m feeling sleepy and may doze off anytime’ text. There was no such text this time.

Silence in the middle of a great conversation, especially when you’ve said something out-of-your-usual-self is killer; an absolute heartbreaker.

This gets really worse if the pause comes just after your stupid attempt to crack a new joke or say something that you now think you shouldn’t have had sent in first place. In these two cases you at least have pleasure of the ‘what if’ side.

Don’t talk to me

But what if the pause comes after “Don’t talk to me” text? This is the worst. Not because you know the person at other end is for sure miffed this one time. But because of distance.

Distance is lethal. You know ways to calm the person when they are around. You know things they like, you know what makes them happy, you know where to touch, you know ways to make them happy, you know what makes them laugh their hearts out. But all this and more are possible when the person is around. When you have them in blood and flesh before you, where you can pull them and stop as they prepare to leave, where you can plead. And most importantly, when they are around, you know they are listening to your requests. We have hope with us that our repetitive requests will melt their hearts at last; that sooner or later they will forgive and forget. But with distance that pleasure is anything but present. That hope is tied with the ‘if’, if they are reading your “I’m Sorry” texts. But are they? You know nothing. They probably have switched their phone off, may be they just kept the phone on bed and went out. The worse — what if my ‘I’m sorry babe’ texts are read by someone else? You can be sure of nothing. This is amiss, this is storm within that only you have to deal with. Then you see the ‘read’ mark. That blue tick. Thank god, the person at the other end is reading them. But wait, is it the person who I’m sending texts? Why am I not receiving their replies? At least, you expect “I’m angry”, “I don’t wanna chat anymore”. Something that would assure you their presence at the other end. In the meantime you probably turn your data off and on, you switch off your phone and switch on. You text ‘hi’ to another friend and wait for their reply to check if you are able to receive replies at all. However tech-savvy genius you are, this is that time when your intelligent instincts go on a countryside fishing singing the happy tone of la-la-la. The part of your brain that should hold you tog

ether, one that needs to calm you down is out on its vacation. You are left there to fend for yourself and go weird with idea of sending ‘I’m Sorry’ a gazillion times more. You don’t know what error you commit, you don’t know what made your ‘babe’ angry, you know nothing. You are Jon Snow. He sends ravens and waits while you send texts and wait. But for the mood across the side; It’s written on the big old wall, you know nothing.

Silence might be golden in thousand other ways but for the love of god, dear people who do it, please don’t.

I don’t know if you have gone through the turmoil and ordeal of guessing ‘what did I just do’, ‘what would happen now’ or ‘how long’. But if you did, do post your experiences in comments below. I’m eager to know how you guys dealt with and more importantly how and when the text finally arrived, if it did at all!

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