The thing about instant text communication (eg, text messages, Discord, etc) is that they actually feel more disjointed than either other forms of correspondence or talking in-person/on the phone.
When you send a letter or email, you can write your thoughts out fully, the way you might in a blog post. When you talk in-person or on the phone, there's a constant and immediate back and forth.
But texting in any form is a weird hybrid of these. Sometimes it's a back and forth conversation, but these days it's also normal to just. Stop responding mid-conversation for anywhere from a few minutes to a couple hours with no indication why. Not even a "brb" or "gotta go run an errand."
And I just don't know what the polite thing to do when that happens is. So I put it to you, Tumblr:
If you're texting someone and they stop responding, what is the polite thing to do?
Wait for them to respond to the last thing you said, no matter how long it takes
Send the rest of your thoughts in a long text
Keep sending short messages as things occur to you
Assume that's the end of the conversation
Wait at least ____ before assuming it's the end of the conversation
Spend the rest of the day fretting over whether your friend hates you now
Start a new convo whenever you think of something new to say
Send an emoji/short message asking where they went
Assume this person is a friend and the conversation is casual, not business or Serious Talks.
No option for "I don't know" or "It's complicated." Pick the one you think is usually best and expand in the tags.
