What are your rules for texting your partner?
If you are using too many or too few kisses on your text messages then you could be doing yourself an injustice according to TalkTalk. If you have been with your partner for forever or you are just starting out- putting less kisses in a text than your partner is considered rude.
Answering your phone during dinner is also a big no-no or having it on in the cinema. Other offensive textual practices include texting after 11pm, sending the same text and texting utter rubbish.
It was found that over half of men in Britain think that ending a relationship over a text is ok, whereas women on the whole want some face to face interaction to call it a day.
In this fickle world in which we live, something as small as too many lol’s can affect whether someone will stay with you or not. It can be seen as too needy or overly keen in the eyes of the one being pursued.
So some good advice when texting is to text your partner goodnight if you are not together, reply to their texts within two hours of receiving them and asking questions to encourage a bit of banter.
With the lack of tone in a text nearly half of Brits have misunderstood a text message and taken offence to it. So with three quarters of us who believe we have good phone etiquette these stats would suggest otherwise.
Brits in the south are found to be the neediest partners as they are most likely to send more than one message if their other half does not reply. The Welsh on the other hand are quite relaxed when it comes to dating and will leave it up to a week before getting back to their significant other after their last meeting.
Dan Meader of TalkTalk Mobile, added: "TalkTalk Mobile has long since been making Britain better off with its great value mobile deals and flexible contracts, but our work with Debretts means that we’re able to go one step further towards helping out Britain’s daters mind their manners. Nearly 70% of us know someone with bad phone manners – although only a fifth of us thought our own phone manners may be in need of improvement – so our top tips aim to help people weave their way through the web that is modern phone etiquette.”
Jo Bryant, Etiquette Expert at Debretts, said: "Mobile phones allow us to communicate instantly, with ease and spontaneity, but as the TalkTalk Mobile survey results show, consideration for others is essential for good mobile phone manners.”
Top tips for texting:
Do:
Keep flirting to text – Don’t try and pull it off on a call- if you are not good at flirting this can be a great way to convince someone that you are!
Turn off your phone when you’re out for a meal or at the cinema. Give them your full attention- Otherwise it looks like you have better things to be doing.
Give your friend your phone when tempted to drunk call or text- This just never ends well- it might sound good in your drunken brain but the next day it is officially the most embarrassing, incomprehensible dribble you have ever written.
Reply to texts within a couple of hours – any later and it’ll look like you’re ignoring them- Leaving it till late in the day says that you have not been thinking about them and that you are checking them off your to do list before you’re off to bed.
Text a partner good morning and goodnight, but never at silly o’clock or before 9pm- This demonstrates that you are going to bed thinking of them and waking up with them on your mind too. Just don’t wake them up or they may not appreciate the message whatever the good intentions were behind it.
Don’t:
Finish a relationship by text. Be brave and do it face to face- Would you want this? No? Well have the same courtesy for your date.
Re-send the same text if you haven’t had a response yet- This can look impatient and angry- there could be a good excuse for why they have not text you back and then you look like the too eager beaver.
Text unnecessary small talk, like ‘Hey howz u’ or more than two texts without a reply – it looks needy- Asking ‘how are you?’ usually gets a short and meaningless answer when you are face to face- so imagine how people feel about it in a text!
Use acronyms like LOL, K, G2G- This can imply that you can’t be bothered to text all the words yourself and so are not really committed to sending the text anyway.
Put more or fewer kisses than the other person- Never go back in life and relationships- always forward!