Sorry, just saw this…

Some people get pretty indignant when their texts go unanswered because they have a strict moral code or an established responsible habit to honor the exchange of text messages in a timely fashion. Some of those same people ignore text messages, you’d probably bet.

Still, they would ask, “how long does it take to respond to my message?!” Seconds, truly. We have to admit that most of us live a lifestyle with our phones in hand. Although it varies among age groups, several Pew surveys found that, “Americans’ cellphones are generally with them and rarely turned off.” Those morally responsive texters would only miss a text if they were actively, purposefully disregarding it.

The constant connection could result in the battery dying pretty often. Maybe you always have your phone, so you check it continuously, but it’s always on silent. You may suspect those are acceptable reasons to not respond to texts until you notice them, but your mom probably—definitely disagrees.

Is there any acceptable reason to not respond to texts? The Atlantic’s article “How It Became Normal to Ignore Texts and Emails” says this: “More than anything, what the age of instant communication has enabled is the ability to deal with conversation on our own terms.” So, the Golden Rule, being golden, applies to this dilemma as well.