Your cellphone is very much the plug to the outside world. It connects us to social media, current events and most importantly to each other. With various ways to connect we develop a facade of ourselves translated through our phones. Whether you believe it or not, how you choose to communicate can indirectly say a lot about you.
Because we are constantly in contact with one another we develop these communication habits. Texting is the obvious method we use every day but Snapchat has emerged in relevancy to stay connected with our friends and family. Now, some habits we develop are great. I think we could all agree replying back is an admirable habit, though many of us don’t have a mutual understanding as to when we should reply, it’s still something we all try to do. Transversely, there are also avoidable texting and Snapchat habits that some deem both questionable and annoying.
First on the list is obvious: the “k”-text. Look, it doesn’t matter what someone did to you for them to deserve the infamous lone letter but for the sake of all our tempers, never use the k-text. It’s rude and will leave you having to double text the recipient because you’ve gotten your point across too harshly. The k-text is practically a virtual slamming of a door in the face. We’re left offended and not quite sure how to respond. Maybe they deserved it, maybe they didn’t, either way, it won’t hurt your thumbs to include at least an “O” in front.
Another peculiar habit is when someone uses “lol” immediately followed by a period. This isn’t near as drastic as the k-text but it defeats the purpose of use. I’m aware this is typically a habit our grandmothers have and I get that none of us are actually laughing out loud when we use the abbreviation but following it with a period really paints a picture of you genuinely not finding what I said funny. We all enjoying believing we’re hilarious so please correct anyone still doing this because “lol” is understood as its own form of punctuation. Issues with Snapchat habits are equally troubling.
One thing most snapchat users ponder is why some choose to send you a personal snap that is also on their Snapchat story. Is it that you’re worried we won’t see your Snapchat story quick enough for you or were you simply intending to only send it to me, discovered how compelling it was and decided it needed to be publically shared? It’s tossed around for debate but regardless, when we see the same snap on your story we no longer feel special about the one you sent personally, and we all enjoy feeling special. Something to also keep in mind is if you open someone’s Snapchat and haven’t replied to their text yet, you may be subject to ridicule. Also, personal research shows that these are typically the same people who are advocates for the k-text and you want to avoid aligning yourself with those users.
Last is a habit specifically shared within the iPhone community: the use of read receipts. For Android users reading this, it’s a feature on the iMessage app that shows who you’re texting exactly when you’ve chosen to read a text. It completely eliminates the mystery on the other end. A lot of people use this feature for many different reasons and each one I find myself in opposition. We’re all busy here, we all nap, sometimes we just don’t get around to replying and that’s okay. There shouldn’t be any offense taken to that. But I think those who did need confirmation of the unknown. With read receipts, getting ignored is twice as sad because now you’ve seen that they’ve read your message and are choosing not to reply. There’s some confirmation for you. All you have to do to get a response is invoking one. Sometimes I’ll have a full out conversation with myself on your device to cyber-nudge you to respond. It’s 100 percent effective. Everyone that didn’t respond and does not have the read receipts feature turned on, I assume had a bad signal since December. Ignorance is bliss.
There are plenty of other communication nuances that work our nerves but the most agreeable is the act of calling. If it isn’t an emergency or severely urgent avoid using the device for its original intention of hearing a voice on the other end. It should only be permissible among family and your boss. Otherwise, it’s like showing up to my apartment unannounced and if Seinfeld has taught us anything it’s to not “Kramer” your way into a conversation.
Cell phone culture has changed and hopefully we can learn to avoid these things. Some will claim these guidelines are too strict but these listed examples are helpful in forming better texting and Snapchat etiquette. If I grew up eating pizza with a fork my whole life, I’d want someone to tell me to stop because that’s abnormal and I’m being seriously judged by it. My point is it’s not too late to change up your ways. Its 2017, what a time to be alive – new year, new you lol.