15 Guys Explain Why They Take So Long to Text You Back
In a perfect world, texting your crush would be simple. You instantly think of something funny or sweet or interesting to say — picking the perfect emojis to go with your message, of course — and they text back a mere minute or two later. You know, like an actual IRL conversation. Instead, what sometimes happens is that your text goes unanswered for a while. Or, they text back right away, then seemingly fall off the face of the Earth for the next 48 hours. Or, you get your friends’ help crafting the perfect fun and flirty text, only to recieve no response at all. What gives?
Luckily, Reddit’s AskMen forum has some answers. There, guys sounded off on how they text and why it might take them so long to respond to messages. Some claim that they don’t put much thought into it, while others say that they use their response time to send the recipient a clear message about their feelings.
The bottom line: don’t spend hours trying to analyze how someone really feels about you based on their response time. Sure, your crush might be sending subliminal messages... or, that six-hour time gap just meant that they were working, hanging with friends, studying for exams, or were simply busy. Ditch the mind games and keep reading to see a guy’s take on text response times and why they might take so long to reply.
Their response time really depends on what they’re doing in the moment.
1. “I’ll reply when I can. I’m usually in the middle of homework/sports so any chance to respond is a good time.” — PancakesAndPunk
2. “Could be a minute or two, could be never. Just depends on my mood.” — Jeepwave13
3. “Between 20 seconds and five days. There are so many variables when it comes to texts. What am I doing at the moment? Am I even holding my phone? If not, where is it? Who texted? How important is their text? Do I need to find out something later and reply with that? Will I forget to text them after I find out the answer since it’s been a few hours already? All things considered, I try to answer as quickly as possible. So, if I’m holding my phone and it’s someone I actually don’t mind talking to, my replies will be instant.” — ChuckZombie
4. “If the phone is in my hands, I’ll answer almost right away, depending on the person. If not, then who knows when I’ll reply. My life doesn’t revolve around my phone.” — zackaria1991
5. “Somewhere between 10 seconds and 48 hours. Text communication says to me, ‘Here’s some information/a question that can wait until it’s convenient for you to get to it.’ If you need something right now, call me.” — Byizo
6. “Depends. I don’t always run around with a phone.” — lastrada2
Some people are more calculating — and their response time depends on how they feel about the person.
7. “Usually as soon as I can compose a good response. If I just started talking to a girl, I might wait 10-20 minutes so I don’t seem overly eager.” — izlude7027
8. “Not immediately, not even close. it takes me a while... But in a relationship usually pretty quickly.” — aepure
9. “If someone takes forever to respond to my texts for no reason, I wait exactly how long they take to respond to my texts.” — scraynes
10. “If it’s a friend, I reply immediately. If it’s someone I’m dating or something I usually leave around 10 minutes between receiving the message and reading and answering. In my experience, if I always reply immediately when I receive a message, they lose interest because I come off as needy or something? Since I’ve learned to ‘contain’ myself and almost always wait a few minutes before replying, the other person’s interest doesn’t fade nearly as quickly anymore. Now, only when I’m in a relationship with someone do I reply immediately when I see it.” — PowerPeels
11. “If it’s someone I like, 30 seconds. If it’s someone who usually spreads drama... well, I have a message I still haven’t read because I don’t care for her at all. Got it three days ago.” — ObviouslyNotAMoose
And some people are believers in always texting back right away.
12. “I reply immediately, why wouldn't I?” — PrintError
13. “I’m pretty fast about it when I notice. Around a minute if I see/hear my phone. If I’m in the shower or something then like 15 or so mins later. If my phone is not near me though it might take upwards of a few hours.” — KingoPants
14. “I have my phone on me at pretty much all times, so rarely more than five minutes.” —ThinkerTanker
15. “Usually as soon as I notice it in my inbox.” — bored-data
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