There are so many reasons someone might not return a text. People have busy schedules. They want to take the time to respond thoughtfully but never do because they forget. Whatever it is, there’s a curiosity to see if people are taking texting as a form of communication for granted.

Frankie Haas, a DePaul junior studying psychology, admits he opens his texts when they first come in but sometimes does not immediately respond when he initially reads them. Although he has no unread messages on his phone, he said he often has five or six messages that warrant his response at any given time.

“I am a person who views face-to-face differently from text,” Haas said. “I put text at a lower stake than face-to-face interaction.”

Haas also believes that circumstances distract him from responding to a person, leading him to forget about the message.

Geoffery Durso, professor at the Driehaus College of Business at DePaul, has conducted research in social and consumer psychology in which he has examined individuals evaluations, emotions, and social judgments. Durso believes that many people simply have other priorities than texting these days.

“Everything that’s on your phone and everything that’s off your phone are constantly competing for your attention,” Durso said. “Between apps and life in general, it makes sense that people feel distracted and lose track of responding.”

Durso believes that people should not take a lack of response personally.

“Someone may want a response that is more thoughtful than fast,” he said.

Unlike a phone call, he said, more time to respond is one of the strengths of texting. “It’s important to make sure we don’t attribute to malice what could be slowness,” Durso said.

When asked about her texts, Reese Plagenz, a DePaul sophomore double majoring in physiology and English, looked at her phone and saw one unread message. However, there are three to five messages that she has yet to respond to.

“Sometimes I don’t know what to say,” she admitted. “Reacting over text sometimes feels so artificial, and not all texts warrant a good response.”

For instance, Plagenz does not respond to her messages when she knows she’ll see her friends later and they can talk face to face about the content that would have been texted. In other cases, she will click on the notification when it first arrives on her phone to see the text but doesn’t respond, intending to reply later.

“Sometimes, I’ll see the notification and think, ‘Eh, I’ll respond to it later,’ but then I usually don’t,” Plagenz said.

Phones are designed to entice consumers to keep using them, according to Durso, so habits form, such as checking notifications at every alert or vibration.

“It creates an addictive quality to wanting a particular signal so badly when you see the notification, and it’s not what you hoped it would be,” Durso said. “You’re continuing to wait for the top-of-mind notifications, which can lead to what the phone is designed to do, wanting us to use it more.”

Another reason someone will not respond is because all the notifications can be overwhelming, causing them to freeze.

“I also don’t text back out of fear that the person won’t respond back to me,” Plagenz said. “Sometimes it’s intimidating, and then I start to overthink why they haven’t replied.”

Durso believes that texting could also overwhelm someone because of the expectations and norms we assign it.

“Calibrate the expectations, and do not treat them as a judgment of yourself as there are many reasons why someone doesn’t respond,” he said.

You may simply have a friend who doesn’t like to text, he noted — so it’s a good idea to ask how they want to be contacted and convey how you’d like it. For Durso, it depends on the expectation that he assigns to a communication platform. His Instagram serves as the main outlet for his older group of friends where they exchange memes. However, texting can be used to convey his live reaction of sports to his friend to get a timely response.

“It’s essential to communicate your preference for communication,” Durso said, “to ensure no one feels anxious about it.”

Related Stories: 

• Riley Sommers: Second City cowgirl
• How AI interviews are changing the job search
• Bring a gun on the CTA? AI might know

Stay informed with The DePaulia’s top stories, delivered to your inbox every Monday.