All posts tagged: texting

How to Escape Group Chat Hell

How to Escape Group Chat Hell

Published by skeptic

A specific cadence for contemporary group chats eludes me. The rapid-fire tempo of texts combined with custom stickers, often based on inside jokes, leaves me behind. My digital fate: the silent lurker. As I let the notifications wash over me, I am a ghostlike figure haunting the group chat, a silent watcher who rarely responds without a specific invocation. Group chats are dominating the social lives of younger Americans. In a recent YouGov poll, 34 percent of adults under 30 said they are in at least four group chats, whether via text or other messaging app. Power texters are spending hours juggling multiple message threads—3 percent of adults under 30 said they are in more than 20 distinct group chats. These group chats are not just for the young folk, though. All attempts at social interactions now spark a new group message. A WhatsApp thread for our monthly book club. An Instagram group for that weekend getaway. A bulbous iMessage chat with random cousins attempting to plan a family reunion. Group chat hell is everywhere …

9 Personality Traits Of People Who Ignore Calls & Forget To Text Back

9 Personality Traits Of People Who Ignore Calls & Forget To Text Back

Published by Jenni Sidey

I’ve been guilty of seeing a text and forgetting to respond. I just get caught up in my own head, and it feels like the world is moving at a mile a minute around me. Ignoring calls… Well, that’s another story. I’m guilty of doing that intentionally because I’d much rather talk through text. Not everyone who ignores calls or forgets to text back has bad intentions. In fact, they often share distinct personality traits that explain why their phone etiquette isn’t always impeccable. A person who ignores calls and forgets to text back is usually dealing with more in their heads than we may realize. Whether it’s social anxiety or they are selective about how they spend their time, it changes the way they handle interactions with the people in their lives.  People who never answer calls or forget to reply to texts often share these personality traits: 1. They are selective KaterynaUKR | Shutterstock In a busy, overconnected world, you either run yourself ragged or make an intentional choice to prioritize your interactions. …

Light’s new 9 flip phone has no apps and T9 texting, but aims to connect its users

Light’s new $299 flip phone has no apps and T9 texting, but aims to connect its users

Published by skeptic

Light Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Light just announced the Light Flip — a minimalist flip phone for $299. It has a slightly lower-end build compared to the Light Phone 3, but aims for a thoughtful design and striking colors. It comes with a nine-month “Flip Your Life” program that helps users prepare to ditch their smartphones for good.  Light, the company that made the “premium dumbphone”, just announced the latest device to its lineup: the Light Flip, a $299 flip phone with the same minimal aesthetic but with trade-offs in hardware, build, and a lower rate at $39 a month. The Brooklyn-based company’s core ethos remains the same: a completely minimalist UI, no email, no apps, and limited features — even less than the Light Phone 3, which was already spare. The result is a unique device in wild colors designed solely for making calls and sending texts (if you can brave the T9 keyboard). Also: I gave up my iPhone for a dumbphone with no apps. A month …

Do you have ‘texting thumb’? Here’s how to soothe it

Do you have ‘texting thumb’? Here’s how to soothe it

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Do your hands hurt when you use your phone? All that texting and scrolling might be stressing out your fingers. The term texting thumb can describe a wide range of phone-related pains caused by tired-out tendons and achy joints — like general stiffness, throbbing near the knuckle and a clicking sensation when bending the thumb. If left untreated, repetitive typing and swiping can lead to more serious issues like carpal tunnel and arthritis. The term texting thumb can describe a wide range of phone-related pains caused by tired-out tendons and achy joints (Getty Images) People have pecked away at devices for decades with warnings about overuse injuries — think BlackBerry thumb. Today’s smartphones have gotten larger and heavier, and the way we use them has also shifted: Beyond talking and texting, it’s common to doomscroll for hours, pay medical bills and …

Rosamund Pike calls out audience member for texting during show

Rosamund Pike calls out audience member for texting during show

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Rosamund Pike told off an audience member for texting during her emotional performance in Inter Alia, saying she hoped it was “very important”. The actor, who plays a court judge in the show, returned to the stage at the end of the production at Wyndham’s Theatre in London on Saturday to give a lecture on theatre etiquette. Her speech came as a surprise but elicited cheers from the audience as she told them how the incident was upsetting. “I just wanted to say for anyone going to the theatre, it’s a huge thing that we’re trying to give you. I am trying to tell you a story, and I’m feeling you, and I hope you’re feeling me too,” she told the crowd. Ms Pike won the Olivier Award for Best Actress this year (Getty) The audience member had been texting during one of the more …

I thought I was the only one. He was texting with 13 other women

I thought I was the only one. He was texting with 13 other women

Published by Sam Flores

I was comfortable being called “weekend girl” and had even coined the nickname. We met running on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. Our first date followed: a run through Pacific Palisades. We talked about food. Our second date: dinner. We talked about running. I was coming out of a sticky romantic relationship and into a new job, so a casual fling seemed appropriate. We had endless common interests; making plans was easy. He was the best kisser I’d ever come across, but I still liked my solo weeknights. It continued that way for a few months. There were sleepless nights of laughter and love-making. I didn’t care where he was on a Wednesday. I had a dumpy, dark one-bedroom further south on the disregarded part of Bundy Drive, and he had a well-appointed and nicely lighted two-bedroom, so weekends were at his place or occasionally the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. Things were light and fluffy until he made a proposal. “Do you want to be adventure buddies?” he asked while we dined at the …

People Who Use Emojis Have An Unusually Perceptive Understanding Of Emotions, Finds Study

People Who Use Emojis Have An Unusually Perceptive Understanding Of Emotions, Finds Study

Published by Jenni Sidey

Smiley face, winky face, thumbs up. In the modern world, emojis are just as meaningful as words. Sometimes, we can convey entire messages using a small string of emojis. If you don’t practice the emoji habit, you might want to consider starting. People who do are a whole lot more perceptive when it comes to emotions, and that’s not just lip service. It’s science. Research has found that people who use emojis often may have an advantage over others: they’re much more in tune with detecting emotions on human faces. A new study reveals that people who use emojis when texting are highly perceptive of emotions. Whether it be an emoji face on a screen or a human face IRL, it turns out that we interpret emotions in practically the exact same way. A research team at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom has discovered that our brains process expressions on emojis in similar regions and patterns as we do with real human emotions. Krakenimages.com | Shutterstock The study included two separate experiments, with nearly …

Seen, Unseen, and Still Anxious: The Psychology of Texting

Seen, Unseen, and Still Anxious: The Psychology of Texting

Published by Jenni Sidey

My own texting habits got me into writing this, but have you ever experienced this? You send a message. You turn your phone over. Maybe you silence notifications and tell yourself you are going to focus. And yet ten minutes later, you have already checked your phone three times. There is no reply, but the conversation is still sitting in your mind. You might be on the train, between meetings, or cooking dinner, and still find part of your attention drifting back to that one unanswered message. We often assume texting anxiety comes from our phones — the notifications, the interruptions, the constant availability. So we mute chats or turn off alerts. But the feeling does not really go away. It just changes form. Why Unanswered Messages Stay in Your Head Texting creates a very particular kind of waiting. When you send a message and do not get a response, it does not feel like it is finished. It stays open. Research suggests that unfinished or interrupted tasks can remain mentally active, pulling attention back …

People Who Read Text Messages But Forget To Respond Until Way Later Almost Always Have 11 Highly Specific Personality Traits

People Who Read Text Messages But Forget To Respond Until Way Later Almost Always Have 11 Highly Specific Personality Traits

Published by Jenni Sidey

I don’t know about you, but if there’s one thing I hate, it’s the feeling of waiting by the phone for a text message. It happens all the time: a friend promises they’ll text, then days pass, only for you to still wait for the text. A nudge later, and they apologize, following up after you have to nudge them. In many cases, the people who forget to respond to text messages are an odd bunch of people. They tend to be the ones who end up being great friends in person, but terrible online. Wondering what’s going on with the friends who do this? Well, they might have these personality traits to thank for their absent-minded behavior. People who read text messages but forget to respond until way later almost always have 11 highly specific personality traits 1. They get lost in their own thoughts Tonuka Stock / Shutterstock Did you ever meet a person who gets so lost in thought that they forget what they’re doing in the moment? They are the type …