Texting has become one of the most common and convenient forms of communication.
Imagine still having to tie a piece of paper to a pigeon’s leg just to ask someone “What’s up?”
But still, just because someone can text, doesn’t mean they’re maximizing the experience for themselves and others!
People can affect the other person with the way they text more than one might think—especially dry texters, something everyone should avoid.
What is a dry texter in actuality?
A dry texter is a person whom, for the life of you, you just can’t keep a conversation going with.
A dry texter will give one-word replies, take forever to text back, don’t further elaborate, and don’t talk about anything interesting.
Basically, they give the people they’re texting nothing to work with!
Now, whether you were or weren’t aware of this term but don’t want to seem like a dry texter, I got your back!
Here are some useful tips on how to avoid dry texting somebody!
1. Don’t take forever to text back.
No surprise here! Taking forever to reply to somebody’s message will make you seem like a dry texter AND will irritate the other person.
Reply to people promptly to show them that you care and are interested in what they’re saying.
Reply as soon as possible, and if you’re too busy to do that, give the other person a heads-up!
There’s nothing more frustrating and annoying than waiting hours and hours for a person to text back.
It stunts the conversation’s flow and if repeated over and over again, it makes a person seem like a dry texter.
2. Instead of short and one-word replies, go for something more elaborated.
A: “Hey! What’s up? Do you have any plans today? I was thinking we could go to the movies and grab something to eat!🥳❤️”
B: “Okay.”
Perhaps a more fitting—and more enthusiastic—response would’ve been:
“Hey! I’m just [doing something]. And no, I have no plans but that sounds so fun! Count me in!🤩”
Nothing kills a conversation more than one-word, short replies. If you don’t want to be a dry texter, then you’ve got to avoid one-word replies!
When we text in such a way, we’re basically telling the other person that we’re not interested in them and the conversation.
And that’s why we need to avoid criminally short replies when talking to a person, especially a love interest.
Avoid sending short and uninteresting replies which are impossible for the other person to work with.
For example, sending a simple “hi” leaves no space for further elaboration, hence, making it harder for the other person to reply.
Short or one-word texts can be used at times, they should never be used as conversation starters or/and answers that require more elaboration.
3. Use emojis and emoticons to add different reactions!
It’s easy for text conversations to lose their liveliness, but, how do we prevent that?
By using emojis and emoticons!
Emojis and emoticons instantly enhance a text message conversation: they add a hint of fun and playfulness.
Emojis are great for flirting, joking, showing affection, and overall making the conversation more interesting. Take this as an example:
“Guess who I saw today?”
“Who?👀😏”
This response to the question sounds a bit more interesting and playful: all because of the emojis!
4. Include gifs, photo reactions, and voice memos in your texts.
One downside of texting is that we can’t see and show reactions!
Use gifs and photo reactions to express the way you’re feeling in a fun and interesting way!
We, as humans, are visual creatures who tend to enjoy being visually stimulated to focus and get invested.
So, visual representations of your reactions are a great way to keep the conversation going.
Don’t shy away from using voice memos now and then; they have the power to make people seem more fun, genuine, and interesting!
Do you feel excited? Happy? Perhaps bored? Even hot or cold? I can assure you that there’s a gif for every feeling and reaction!
5. Use humor and make the person you’re texting laugh.
Texting with someone who has a great sense of humor is a great feeling and overall experience.
Take advantage of your sense of humor:
- Send memes;
- Send funny videos;
- Crack jokes;
- Do a funny voice;
- Make a funny expression.
Everybody enjoys having a good laugh, and if you’re the person responsible for that laugh, then that’s extra points for you!
It’s an unwritten rule: a funny person cannot be a dry texter!
6. If you’re talking to a partner or love interest, flirt from time to time!
Knowing when to be flirty can enhance your texting experience—especially if you and the person you’re texting are romantically involved.
This will make your text conversations together way more fun and interesting.
Being the opposite of a dry texter means being someone fun and exciting; someone who people enjoy talking to.
If you want to spice your conversation up by flirting, consider doing these:
- Compliment the other person;
- Use romantic/flirty emojis;
- Ask playful questions;
- Send selfies now and then;
- Tease, tease, tease!
Use flirting as a tool—in a respectful and moderated way—to sound like anything but a bad texter!
7. Avoid texting when you’re super busy and can’t multitask.
Some people have no problems multitasking and juggling between their phones and whatever is keeping them busy.
But if you’re not good at multitasking, you don’t want to text someone. Postpone that conversation until after you’re free!
This is because when a person is too busy, they can’t give the other person their full attention, instead, their replies end up being dry and short.
That defines dry texting itself!
8. Let the other person know you’re busy!
Following up on the previous tip: definitely let somebody know when you’re too busy and can’t text.
As I mentioned, when we’re too busy, we can’t direct 100% of our attention to the person we’re texting, so we end up sounding disinterested.
We might even delay our responses for way too long.
A simple: “Just a heads-up! I’m busy right now so I can’t talk a lot. Sorry in advance,” makes all the difference and clears up any misunderstanding.
It’s way better and more acceptable than responding hours later or texting one-word replies which could irritate anybody.
Some people aren’t dry texters but end up looking that way due to them being too busy to reply adequately and not letting people know in advance.
9. Text them interesting questions!
Show interest in the other person’s life, interests, preferences, and other aspects by asking questions.
Being a fun texter means letting the other person talk and express themselves, so consider asking them fun and interesting questions.
- “What is your favorite genre of music?”
- “What do you do for fun?”
- “What are your biggest pet peeves?”
Ask questions that specifically require elaboration instead of “yes” or “no” answers.
These questions make a conversation flow nicely.
Also, since people, in general, enjoy talking about themselves, they will feel good knowing that you’re taking an interest in them.
This is a perfect way not to be a dry texter!
10. Contribute to the conversation and give updates.
To be a good texter, one needs to make an effort, which means contributing to the text conversations.
Listening is usually a great trait to have, however, if you do only listening and no talking, the other person will eventually get bored.
Share something interesting about yourself, your day, your life, or even your past!
Tell people about a crazy experience that will catch their attention.
Had a crazy dream? Talk about it.
Did you see a cute animal while you were outside? Describe it!
Do you have a hidden talent that no one would’ve guessed? Don’t keep it hidden.
Conversations are a two-way road, a give-and-take situation.
Don’t let the other person snatch the spotlight every time! Don’t hesitate to contribute your fair share of interesting facts and details.
11. Avoid boring and repetitive topics.
One way to avoid dry texting is by switching things up more often.
Don’t always talk about the same topics and don’t always ask the same questions.
Let’s be honest, talking about today’s weather isn’t that much of a conversation starter.
Talks about the weather, school, work, or other topics that tend to be repeated over and over again shouldn’t be overused as the other person is guaranteed to lose interest.
Switch things up a bit and talk about interesting and spicy topics!
Avoid being predictable and repetitive by talking about the same thing over and over again.
Ask the other person random and fun questions that will pique their interest.
Start interesting discussions, tell jokes, send pictures, and spice it up a bit!
12. Pay attention to the way you use punctuation!
Yes! We’re getting grammatical!
Punctuation marks might just make or break the conversation.
Imagine, you’re super excited because you met your favorite celebrity. Then you deceit to text your friend, and you say,
“Hey, the craziest thing just happened! I met [celebrity name] while I was at [certain location]! It still feels like I’m dreaming. My life is finally complete.🤯😆💘”
And your friend replies with:
“Oh, wow. That is so cool.”
Not too enthusiastic, right? Initially, your friend sounded like they didn’t care much or even at all.
However, if we add a couple of exclamation marks—and emojis— to your friend’s reply, it feels like your friend is very happy and excited for you.
Since it’s much harder to communicate feelings and emotions through text, it’s up to us to interpret.
In the world of texting, periods at the end of a sentence make it seem as if a person is sad or angry; exclamation marks convey excitement and happiness.
Keep this in mind to avoid unintentionally sounding dry and uninterested!
13. Have meaningful and deep conversations as well.
Texting can be a great time-killer, but, if meaningless and idle conversations are all we partake in, then chances are that we’re seen as a dry texter.
If we only talk about trivial things, then we’re disconnecting ourselves from the other person while also making ourselves sound uninteresting and repetitive.
Talk about things that scratch more than the surface and allow the conversations to dig deeper.
Though, don’t always attempt to make a conversation go deep, as it may get invasive and boring for the other person.
Don’t just text for the sake of texting! From time to time, it’s healthy to have heart-to-heart and meaningful conversations.
14. Take a break from texting whenever you’re not in a good mood.
Whenever we’re not in the mood and we show it, it reflects on the way we text.
When feeling down, we might not be in the mood to text, and if we do, we tend to sound dry.
We give short or/and dry replies, delay our texts, sound irritated, and overall do not engage in text conversation.
We might feel the need to always text back, however, if we don’t want to sound dry and uninterested, we also need to know when to stop.
Take this from someone whose mood heavily affects her sociability!
Instead, take a little break from texting until you feel all good and peachy again; you can also try explaining through text to the other person.
15. Don’t talk about the same thing for too long!
We should avoid staying on the same topic for too long when texting somebody.
Talking about the same thing for too long—or even the entirety of the conversation—gets old too quickly.
Meanwhile, certain important topics should be dedicated more time to, paying too much attention to trivial topics can be a waste of time.
The other person will pick up on it, and as a result, they might view us as a dry texter and someone who has nothing better to talk about!
16. Don’t be shy to initiate the conversation!
I know that not texting first is an unwritten rule for many people, however, that rule may be what’s making people seem like a dry texter.
Don’t be shy to text first from time to time!
Texting requires an effort from both parties, and it gets old always texting first.
If, say, the person you’re texting is usually the one that initiates all of your conversations, then chances are that he/she is getting tired of it.
They would appreciate you texting first occasionally as well!
17. Ask for their input and opinion on stuff.
If you don’t want to be a dry texter, you’ve got to ask for the other person’s opinion on topics and matters.
“I was shopping and I saw the same cute blouse in two different colors. Which one do you think looks better, black or red?”
“Which place should I get take-out from? Which is the best in your opinion?”
“What did you think of the new movie that just came out? Is it worth watching?”
It’s a fact that people like giving their opinion on a matter.
Asking for their opinion allows the conversation to flow nicely and not lose its charm.
You will get to know the other person while also showing that you value and appreciate their input.
18. Give them random, interesting facts.
Whether it be about yourself or other topics, everybody loves an interesting and shocking fact.
“Apparently, cats have scent glands on each side of their heads. So when your cat rubs his head on you, he’s marking his territory.”
“Did you know that penguins have odd, spiky tongues that help them better grip their prey?”
Talk about interesting and fun facts once in a while to pique your friend’s or crush’s interest!
This will entertain them and also make you look like an amazing texter.
19. Don’t use overly complex words often to sound smart…
Nobody likes the presence of a pretentious person, let alone a conversation with them.
Avoid using big and fancy words to impress somebody else, it doesn’t work one bit—instead, it annoys them and makes you a dry texter.
Keep things sweet, simple, and humble!
Be a fun and modest person who’s a joy to be around, there is no need to flaunt one’s intellect!
20. Take “K.” out of your dictionary!
Take the dreaded “K.” out of your dictionary ASAP if you use it.
Using “K” makes somebody sound mad, upset, or done with the conversation, and the other person takes the hint.
It sounds cold and dismissive, hence, it makes us look cold and dismissive, aka dry texters!
Even if our intention isn’t to come off as rude, a lot of people may get that impression.
The “K” text is of that nature and its use should be minimized as much as possible!
21. Start the conversation in a fun and interesting way.
Consider texting an act and yourself the performer who needs a great opener.
I’m talking about knowing how to start a conversation!
Start your conversations in a fun and interesting way that encourages the other person to respond!
A: “Hi.”
B: “I saw that you like [band name]! What’s your favorite song of theirs?”
Which one of these two situations is most likely to urge you to reply? A or B?
B for most of us. For sure!
Start strong by:
- Asking interesting questions;
- Talking about an interest of theirs;
- Cracking a funny joke;
- Validating their achievement;
- Talking about something fun;
Don’t open with boring and mundane openers that literally everybody else uses.
Grab their attention right from the get-go by picking your opener and the tone of the conversation carefully!
22. Use slang and abbreviations—but not excessively.
Using slang and abbreviations is a fun way to add more variety to your texts.
It takes away the formality and monotony of texting with people you consider close to you.
Sprinkle in a bit of slang and abbreviations to avoid having a dry texting style.
Be careful though! Using too much, too often of slang and abbreviations may result in the conversation sounding confusing and impassive.
23. Last but not least, know the point of your texts!
As I mentioned above, avoid texting just for the sake of texting—have a conversation instead.
It comes in handy to know the purpose of your texts.
Are you simply checking up on the person? Do you want to make plans? Or do you mean to ask something?
Regardless of what, have a purpose!
When we text, we tend to be all over the place; we don’t know what to say next or in what matter to say it.
However, if we have an agenda, we have a better understanding of how to make the conversation flow.
Be respectful while texting somebody.
As in every situation, being respectful and considerate is crucial.
Respecting people’s spaces and boundaries is a must to being a good texter and overall person!
Don’t say out-of-pocket stuff or tackle their insecurities or private matters in an insensitive way.
Respect their schedule, decision, and wishes regarding texting: don’t overdo it or dismiss their feelings and thoughts.
Be considerate and put yourself in their shoes for the person to enjoy their conversations with you.
And most importantly, have fun with texting and whom you’re texting!
Sincerely,
Callisto.
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