Dry texting: what is it and how to avoid it?

Dry texting is a term referred to when someone gives you a short cold answer that is hard to be engaged which makes you shake your head and ask yourself.

"What should I reply?"

Well, we both have been there when it comes to dry texting, and nobody is immune to it.

It can be frustrating, confusing and at times make you feel like the other person just isn't interested.

Dry texting is a common issue in dating, but it's also something that can happen during any type of conversation – whether it's business-related or with friends.

One rule you can follow is to never just send "hey". No one ever knows how to respond to hey!

Spotting dry texting can be tricky. Although receiving one smiley emoticon from your crush makes you begin to question your worthiness, sometimes it isn't always the case.

Here are 8 examples of dry texts:

1. You keep getting one-word responses.

2. Their replies are short and lack details.

3. They don't engage in the conversation or ask you back about yourself. They don't send the ball back!

4. The conversation dies quickly.

5. Texting becomes boring, redundant, and stale

6. There are long gaps in between texts.

7. They take a long time to reply or don't reply at all.

8. The conversation feels forced and unnatural.

If you have encountered one of these signs (or in some cases all of them), there is a possibility that your crush is dry texting you.

As much as you want to blame your crush for not having an interesting conversation, you have to think of the potential first responsible: YOURSELF.

But what if you were the one who happened to initiate it, without realizing it?

Maybe at first, you're so excited to talk with this person, and you begin to take that long shift just to tell about that movie that you watched last week. And all you want is to keep continue texting.

But as time goes by, there is this moment where you become less and less interested in the conversations.

If they're the ones who always initiated the first text, and when they ask you  a simple:

"Hey, how was your day?"

and your answer was

"Good"

or

"You know, the usual"

Then it's you who are dry texting them!

Knowing how frustrating it is to encounter dry texter, you might want to be more careful when you're texting someone. And be careful with one-word replies too!

Sometimes, our mood plays a big role when it comes to texting, and if that's the case, it's always better to explain to them that you're not in the mood for texting.

To save you and your best friends from becoming full detective mode and trying to solve the mystery of why you're always receiving one-word answers or short messages, we lay out for you the possibilities of why are they giving you cold answers!

They might be busy.

Easiest one we often forget. People have a life!

Maybe you're not a boring person, after all, maybe they're just busy encountering a more demanding job, or have to take care of plenty of tasks in the office. If dry texting isn't happening regularly then you don't have to worry too much about it.

You might have said something that upset them.

Maybe without realizing it, you have said something that upset them recently. Whether you might not think their favorite pet is cute or you told them that Marvel movies weren't any good (While they're clearly posting everything about Marvel on their social media).

Take one step back, and try to figure out if there is something that you said that might upset them recently?

They're not just interested in you.

It's bitter truth time! Although you always try to give them flirty comments and keep the conversation interesting, but yet, you keep encountering the signs of your crush dry texting you. At this point, you might want to stop texting, and reallocate your energy to find a new crush.

You know what they say:

"There are plenty more fish in the sea"

You need to be perceived with higher value. Bring more interesting things to the conversation.

Although it seems frustrating when you encounter dry text, the only way to figure to respond to it is to try to take a deep breath, and figure out what was the root of the problem.

Not everyone is a bad texter, some people aren't just a big fan of text conversations, maybe they're more comfortable talking directly or having a phone call. You can always ask them about it. In other words, acknowledging what communication style they prefer is also important.

You might also want to try a different approach. Rather than just asking generic questions such as

"Hey, how was your day?"

which has a huge possibility your crush will only respond with one word such as "Good", try asking a more engaging question like

"What was the best part of your day?".

You have to be more creative with your questions and avoid any closed questions that will lead you only to receive a "Yes" or "No" answer. If you need help, we have a list of things to talk about with your crush that can give you some inspiration.

Maybe you're just a natural dry texter (No offense here). Even though you want to keep the conversation interesting, sometimes, it's just hard to have a  flawless conversation with your crush. Even in a real conversation!

But you don't have to worry about that, it's time to enrich your conversations.

Try to pay attention to the details, ask them about things that they love, and most important things, always ask open-ended questions. Even with a simple question!

If you have an interesting conversation, your crush will be more likely to be interested as well. The more people feel special, the more they are likely to send a good ball back.

You can also check other helpful tips to make you become a fun texter.