One of the biggest things that’s changed the dating game is the prevalence of texting in our daily lives. You no longer have to actually dial someone’s number and hear their voice to communicate; you can simply type what you want to say, hit send, and be done with it. Here are 10 other ways texting has changed the way we date:
- You now have the pleasure of read receipts. That’s right, some men will actually let their phones tell you that you’re being ignored. On the other hand, you could also be the woman who informs a man when you’re not interested or angry AF just by reading a message and not replying. It might be petty, but that’s the world we live in now.
- Men have a new way to ignore you. It used to be phone calls that went unanswered, but now it’s text messages. You can assume he never got the message, but how often does that actually happen? No, you’re most likely being ignored, and that’s just another casual way for a man to tell you he’s not interested.
- Ghosting is easier than ever. Men can disappear from your life without a trace. Since you never talked on the phone anyway and communicated completely through text, he can disappear without ever having a real conversation. One minute you’re texting and then you go days without a single reply. You’re waiting on a message that might never come because your former maybe-relationship is officially a ghost. Get ready to be haunted.
- Instead of calling too soon, you can text too often. Once upon a time, you had to wait a certain amount of days before calling the other person, or else you’d seem too eager and too interested. Now you have to watch how often you text a man. You have to wait for him to reply and never double-text. Who knew there would be so many stipulations about having a simple virtual conversation?
- There’s even more evidence of cheating. Snooping got a serious upgrade when texting technology came out. Now you can find all the evidence of a man’s indiscretions right there on his phone. You don’t just get to worry about who he’s texting, but who he’s sexting. The sad truth is if a man keeps his phone under lock and key, it’s almost a guarantee that he’s hiding something.
- There’s a whole new way to look needy. Your texts can be too long, too frequent, or just plain too conversational. Some men want to only talk over text and others want conversation to happen only in person. If you don’t know his texting habits or proper texting etiquette, say goodbye to being a cool and casual dater and hello to looking like the epitome of desperation.
- Phone sex became sexting. Welcome to the world of nudies. Once upon a time, when you couldn’t actually be with your partner, you’d have to describe your daydream sexual encounter over the phone to each other. Things have gotten a little less awkward, though. Now when you’re horny AF but sadly apart, you sext away all of your urges and even send a visual aide.
- Making plans is more casual than ever. Back in the day, a guy had to actually call you and have a real conversation just to make plans for a date. Now, thanks to texting, all awkward phone calls can be avoided. Even further, dates don’t have to be so formal. Instead, he can hit you up to just “hang out.” He can even ask you to “Netflix and chill” — it’s a whole new form of a booty call.
- There are new standards for attention. Typically women would expect some sort of daily phone call from the man in their lives. In modern dating, those expectations went way up. Now it’s not just a single phone call; it’s multiple texts throughout the day. “Good morning,” “How was your day,” and “Good night” are just the basics, because if a man is really interested, you’ll be expecting a hell of a lot more messages than that.
- Communication is more accessible, but more confusing than ever. Supposedly, you can track a guy down much quicker now that communication is almost always at the tip of your fingers, but conveying your message properly isn’t exactly a piece of cake. Texts don’t tell a man your tone, and they don’t tell you his tone either. You could be having two different conversations and before you know it, you’re in a fight — but only one of you knows why.
