Currently, I’m waiting for a text back from a guy I’ve been kinda-sorta seeing. I don’t necessarily enjoy texting him (or most people for that matter).  I don’t know why we even bother with this form of communication.

Texting a friend is fine, but texting a crush or a date is a stressful, modern-day struggle that shouldn’t be.

The way men text is often a bit annoying. Certain texts or Facebook messages can be unwanted or even pathetic. A text from a guy is often either too forward or not forward enough.

Texting is not inherently a problem, however.

Getting to know the person behind the words on a screen– that is the problem.

This generation relies far too much on this petty form of communication in attempts to learn about someone without having to actually face them.

An interest is more likely to be sparked in a casual conversation with a group of friends in the cafeteria than in a text from someone whose last name you don’t know.

Talking in person can allow people to get to know each other in a way that absolutely cannot be conveyed through words on a screen.

Thus, for me at least, texting someone of interest only stops being an annoyance after I have had several in-person conversations with said person. I do enjoy texting people, but only after I get to know them in person. Once I actually like someone as a person, I will text more quickly and without rolling my eyes and one-word-answering the sappy messages and bad pick-up lines that guys have sent me in the past.

The traditional rule, from my understanding of conversations with my mother and aunts (all of whom existed in a world without texting), is that a phone call should be made by the man a few days after he has taken you on a date.

This, to me, seems fairly straightforward. A date, a phone call, another date….or no phone call, no second date. Simple.

This old way involves discussing mutual interests over dinner, gauging reactions and physical cues, and generally enjoying someone else’s company before calling them a few days later.

Today, this method can easily be lost, but it can also easily be kept.

Texts can be used to get to know someone, but shouldn’t be the only way.