Hi. My name is Justin and I suck at texting.
Why do I suck at texting? I'm not sure. I think it stems from being bad at small talk. I vastly prefer having meaningful conversations or joking conversations. Conversations that are neither meaningful, interesting, or humorous I am just bad at. Generally, I find it difficult to conjure these types of conversation via text messages. So therefore, I'm bad at texting.
Another reason I'm bad at texting is because it takes time throughout the day. One could argue, it's just a few seconds to respond to a message. Which is true, if the text requires only a message or two. But actual conversations take much more than a couple messages. Therefore, I am specifically bad at conversing via text messages.
Also, responding to conversational text messages requires you to not be present wherever you actually are - at work, reading, watching Netflix, being with friends, etc. More often than not, I'm more engrossed in whatever I'm presently doing than conducting a conversation via texts. Therefore, I am bad at texting.
Here are some texts that I freeze up at:
- How are you doing?
- How's life?
- What have you been up to?
- Any remotely open ended question about how I am
- What do you think about [insert philosophical concept]
Here are texts that I'm better at responding to:
- Do you want to go to XYZ event?
- I'm here. ETA?
- Check out this cat video [insert cat video]
Am I also bad at in person conversation? I hope not.
So if you want to have a conversation, let's meet up or hop on a call. Yes, as a 20-something in 2019, I just suggested we hop on a call. Calls are much more efficient for conducting actual conversations. Better yet, a video call. I'd also wager both of us would enjoy it more in the end.
Please accept my apologies for long response times. I wish I didn't suck at texting. But alas, I am bad at texting.