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How To Get Someone To Stop Texting You Immediately With One Reply

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woman looking at phone because she can't get someone to stop texting

Is there anything more annoying than someone who keeps texting you, even when you don't respond?

With texts, you can't just do the universally accepted, "My reception is fading. I can't hear you," and then give an Oscar-worthy performance as a person dealing with failed reception.

On the phone, you can make as much made-up static and dropped-call distress as possible, and if you're the Meryl Streep of horrible static, you might throw out a few random words between the garbled sounds.

Enough with the "I don't have a signal" calls — eventually, your caller will get frustrated and stop calling you.

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as text static, and you can't just hang up on an annoying texter.

How can you get someone to stop texting you?

You can try to pretend that your phone was lost/stolen, and text that to your over-texter. But they might decide that they don't care who gets their messages and continue to send them.

You then might decide to give it right back to your texter and bombard them with images of cats. But, with your luck, they'd return the favor and text hundreds of cat pictures back to you, making every day Caturday.

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You can ignore the over-texter, and maybe they'll eventually stop. If you never respond to their texts, they might take the hint... or your tactic could backfire if they decide they actually enjoy texting you more if it annoys you.

How to Get Someone to Stop Texting You With an SMS Error Message

In 2015, comedy duo, Tripp and Tyler, came up with a great way to get rid of unwanted texters — make them think they're being charged.

That's one thing that no one, no matter how desperately they want to text you, wants.

Tripp and Tyler suggest that when you want to discourage someone from texting, send this message:

SMS: SERVICE ERROR 305: Message delivery failed. Further messages will be charged to your account.

You may have to send it a few times for them to get the message, but after a while, they'll hopefully get it and stop tormenting you.

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What to Do if This Error Message Doesn't Work and You Still Want Them to Stop Texting You

If the prospect of being charged cash money doesn't stop them, you need to call your cell phone provider and ask them to block him/her. Blocking was created for this exact situation.

If they continue to harass you by using another number to text you after you've blocked them and you are truly concerned that this person is capable of harming you, you may want to speak with an attorney about taking legal action to get a restraining order.

If you're looking for more content from Tripp and Tyler, their YouTube channel (where they currently have over 200,000 subscribers) is full of great videos.

One video, in particular, is really relevant right now. The 2015 video, entitled “A Video Conference Call in Real Life,” shows what an annoyance that video conference technology can be.

Of course, now that so many people are actually video conferencing from home, it's super relatable.

Plus, it's a fun watch if you're looking for a few minutes during your day just to escape all the current craziness in the world.

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Christine Schoenwald is a writer and performer whose work has been feature in The Los Angeles Times, Salon, and Woman's Day. Visit her website or follow her on Instagram.