11 Annoying Texts That Immediately Turn People Off When You Send Them
You might want to ditch these cringey text messages immediately.
Thi Soares / Shutterstock Texting is one of the easiest ways to stay connected to people, but it can also be one of the quickest ways to get on someone's nerves. The right message can make someone happy for the rest of the day, while the wrong message can derail years of relationship progress. It doesn't matter if it's a friend, romantic partner, or a co-worker, the way you text someone says a lot about you.
Certain annoying texts that immediately turn people off when you send them. When people want a serious connection and you text them with something that rubs them the wrong way, then their behavior in ghosting or blocking you is understandable. From overly clingy messages to typing out in all caps, certain texts make people want to put you on mute or put their phone on do not disturb. Let's take a look at some really annoying text message habits that you should ditch to keep your relationships intact.
Here are 11 annoying texts that immediately turn people off when you send them
1. 'K' or 'ok'
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We all use abbreviations in our text messages, like lol to represent laughing out loud or brb, which means to be right back in a conversation. While it's all in good fun, texting just k or ok after someone states something important to you can come across as dismissive or uninterested. This makes the person on the receiving end feel like they are bothering you.
For many, it can be seen as you supplying minimal effort into the relationship. A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that texting abbreviations made recipients feel like the sender was insincere as they tied it to their amount of effort and closeness that they were willing to make with them. No one wants to feel unimportant to someone, especially when they feel you are close enough to be able to text them frequently. Ditch the abbreviations and watch as your phone gets busier than ever before.
2. 'Why aren't you answering me?'
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Nobody likes a stage five clinger who is constantly asking why you aren't answering their large amounts of text messages. It's rather annoying, especially if they already gave you an answer before or they told you that they were too busy at the moment and will get back to you as soon as they can. Unfortunately, some people are like this, and they will continue to blow up your phone until you answer them.
Texting people during the day when they are at their busiest is not the most courteous thing to do. According to a study published in the Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology, sending someone a text message early in the morning yielded higher response rates than those sent later in the day. This is because people are more receptive to messages when they are mentally available and not overwhelmed.
3. Essay-length messages
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Women have been made fun of online for sending essay-like messages to their significant others to express how they feel. As a woman who has done this once in her life, seeing the countless videos of men scrolling through paragraphs of words, laughing about it made me upset at their dismissal of these women, but did you know that there is something more to this? A study published by ScienceDaily found that women often sent longer messages reaching 160-character limits because they were more expressive in their messaging than men.
Women put their souls into those text messages even if the men don't care or simply find it annoying. Emotional or not, an essay should never be in a Short Message Service (SMS), considering it only allows 160 characters per message. If you can't keep that limit, then maybe sending the message isn't a good idea. If you want to write that much, then maybe you should have just sent a letter.
4. Only texting when they need something
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People who only text you when they need a favor are opportunists. I know how badly it hurts when you do them a favor, but when it's your turn, they are nowhere to be found. On your end, you believe that you have a true friend, while on their end, they don't have the same respect for you. These people are also quick to do things for others who never did anything for them, which can seem like a slap in the face to the people who have actually done favors for them.
It can get emotionally exhausting when dealing with someone like this because they radiate opportunistic traits and entitlements. While you bend over backwards for them they won't show up in the same way for you. These are the dealings of a one-sided relationship that desperately needs boundaries in order to survive. If you don't then they will keep taking advantage and then blame you for your reaction to their behavior.
5. Overuse of emojis
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Emoji preference can let someone know where your state your mind is due to their expressive nature. A study published in Psychological Reports found that people with poorer mental health showed a stronger preference for negative emojis. The more emojis you use, the greater the chances are that you are more expressive today than most people.
Overusing them can backfire, as it can clutter messages and dilute the meaning of the conversation. Not everyone shares the same emoji language and some might feel pressured to use them when they really don't want to or simply just don't like them. While it's okay for a casual group chat, in a serious professional setting it might not be seen as proper messaging etiquette.
6. Messages in all caps
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Messaging in ALL CAPS is extremely annoying in text messaging, as I just demonstrated. It also doesn't capture the reader's attention like it's supposed to do. A study published in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies found that the use of all-capital letters decreased comprehension and reading speed, particularly for older readers. The overuse of all-caps makes readers overlook or even dismiss important information that is presented within documents.
Using all-caps makes you come across as being rude because it sounds like you are yelling through text messages and no one really wants to deal with an angry person. Capitalization in text messages can be annoying to people because they are there to talk informally. All you have to do is take a deep breath, turn off the caps lock button and type normally.
7. Unsolicited complaints or venting
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Known as 'the crisis friend,' these people will only reach out to you when they need to vent to you in a time of personal crisis. Texting or messaging you at all hours of the day to make sure that all of your attention is on them and their situation. They may ask for money, guidance, or even a place to stay due to their situation. Most of the time, they never learn their lesson and go back to the very thing that they were complaining about or running away from.
Venting to someone isn't necessarily a bad thing, but to complain about the same thing over again without making moves to change it just keeps you stuck in a victim mentality. Think about it. Is everyone near this person really the problem, or are they the problem and everyone else is right about their behavior? If you can't handle the mental load, then you need to run from this type of person immediately.
8. One-word responses
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It can be annoying when you ask someone how they are and they reply with a deadpan fine. One-word responses are only used to shut down conversations rather than continue them. This causes communication problems between the people texting each other. The person asking them how they are may feel like they are not opening up, while the person giving the one-word response might think that the asker doesn't actually care how they are doing and just wants to converse.
Regardless, there are several reasons why people give one-word responses. A study by Pew Research Center found that people were less likely to answer open-ended questions if they were using mobile devices instead of desktop computers due to the difficulty of typing on smaller mobile keyboards, limited screen space, and the tendency to multitask while on the phone. So, the next time you get a one-word response, bring it up to them to see if they are doing something else while texting you.
9. Sending back-to-back messages
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I don't know what's worse, sending an essay through text message or sending multiple little messages all at once. We get it. You have a lot to say and can't seem to get it all in one simple message, but it can be annoying for other people messaging you. There's nothing worse than trying to type and someone keeps typing over you.
Messages that are typed in succession to each other can cause the conversation to lower in quality as time goes on. A study published in the Royal Society Open Science found through Twitch stream chat logs that information overload, like messages in succession, can make them sound more repetitive and less meaningful. It shifts meaningful conversations into a chaotic cacophony, where user engagement drops and communication quality declines.
10. Passive-aggressive texts
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Passive-aggressive texts can look different to everyone, but generically, they act like back-handed compliments. For example, when you finally find the time to reach back to someone and they reply with 'thanks for finally getting back to me,' it can seem aggressive because they are pointing out the delay. There are easier ways to tell whether or not someone is passive-aggressively texting you, and it's always at the end of a sentence.
According to an interview with NPR, linguist expert Gretchen McCulloch shared that passive-aggressive texting is often shown through formal punctuation by using periods. During informal circumstances, using a period at the end turns what should be a casual conversation into a passive-aggressive text. These misinterpretations are why people struggle to gauge how others are feeling when texting each other.
11. Group chats or chain texts messages
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Group chats or chain text messages have always been a personal pet peeve of mine. In the early 2000s, you could be scrolling on MySpace when all of a sudden you get an alert telling you that if you didn't forward a message in the next 10 minutes that something bad would happen to you. These chain messages were annoying, even if they were just part of an elaborate joke. Fast forward to today, and we all willingly put ourselves into mass group chats where we get notified every time someone types something.
Research from Hong Kong found that 34.4% of people had three or more family e-chat groups with the most common function being receiving messages and sending photos. The regular use of group chat messaging does improve relationships and continue connections with others but they can still be annoying sometimes. Despite all of these annoying text trends we still value the people who message us even if they do get on our nerves.
Sylvia Ojeda is an author who has over a decade of experience writing novels and screenplays. She covers self-help, relationships, culture, and human interest topics.
