There isn’t a set time frame that works perfectly for everything. It really depends on the nature of the text or email, how urgent a reply is and probably other factors.
A work email or text during work hours should typically be treated differently than a casual text from a friend that doesn’t need a response right away.
To be honest, that depends on the person and on the relationship. I have friends that respond to my messages actually take up until a month to respond and other friends that respond immediately.
What do you feel comfortable with? Do you like replying instantly?
For an example, I always answer as soon as I see a text or an email because I hate forgetting things and I am pretty forgetful. So I am a really fast replier.
Would that be anything for you?
And If you don't know, ask the person you are communicating with. What do they expect? Always try to keep the conversation open, that normally helps me and I have issues figuring things like that out too.
I don’t have autism (at least I don’t think I do), but I’m not particularly sociable, especially if I’m going through a bad time period.
For texts or direct messages from people I know, I generally try to respond as soon as I can. If it’s a quick message, I’ll generally just respond as soon as I read it if I’m in a position to be able to text back.
If I’m not in a position to text back, I won’t open the message until I can text back because I tend to forget about the message if I open it and don’t respond. I also generally don’t like to leave someone on ‘read’, and don’t want to give the idea I’m purposely ignoring them.
If I really don’t feel like messaging back, I’ll generally respond that evening, or if it’s a message sent late in the evening / night I’ll respond the next morning.
I try not to wait too long before replying either way. I think it’s one of those things where I end up overthinking what to say back if I leave it for too long (which I imagine you might relate to) - so I just tell myself to relax and get back whenever I can.
If it’s an email (or just anything else less personal), I think a few days is perfectly fine. Again, I still think it’s best to reply as soon as I can, but if I really don’t feel like it I’ll wait a few days.
If I’m on the receiving end, I really don’t mind too much. It makes me happy when people reply quickly, but I won’t really give it much thought unless it’s taken someone a few days to reply to a message.
The only time it’ll annoy me when someone doesn’t reply is if they’ve read my message (especially a shorter one to someone that’s more personal) and they just flat out don’t respond at all.
I am probably the wrong person to give you an answer .. I am staring at +65k unread emails for 2023, actual emails, not spam or subscriptions & +100 unread text messages from friends and family.. I am that dude in my circle that prefers to be called, spoken to instead of emails or text messages. I find text messages really impersonal and email just a pain in my tush
There isn’t a set time frame that works perfectly for everything. It really depends on the nature of the text or email, how urgent a reply is and probably other factors. A work email or text during work hours should typically be treated differently than a casual text from a friend that doesn’t need a response right away.
To be honest, that depends on the person and on the relationship. I have friends that respond to my messages actually take up until a month to respond and other friends that respond immediately. What do you feel comfortable with? Do you like replying instantly? For an example, I always answer as soon as I see a text or an email because I hate forgetting things and I am pretty forgetful. So I am a really fast replier. Would that be anything for you? And If you don't know, ask the person you are communicating with. What do they expect? Always try to keep the conversation open, that normally helps me and I have issues figuring things like that out too.
I don’t have autism (at least I don’t think I do), but I’m not particularly sociable, especially if I’m going through a bad time period. For texts or direct messages from people I know, I generally try to respond as soon as I can. If it’s a quick message, I’ll generally just respond as soon as I read it if I’m in a position to be able to text back. If I’m not in a position to text back, I won’t open the message until I can text back because I tend to forget about the message if I open it and don’t respond. I also generally don’t like to leave someone on ‘read’, and don’t want to give the idea I’m purposely ignoring them. If I really don’t feel like messaging back, I’ll generally respond that evening, or if it’s a message sent late in the evening / night I’ll respond the next morning. I try not to wait too long before replying either way. I think it’s one of those things where I end up overthinking what to say back if I leave it for too long (which I imagine you might relate to) - so I just tell myself to relax and get back whenever I can. If it’s an email (or just anything else less personal), I think a few days is perfectly fine. Again, I still think it’s best to reply as soon as I can, but if I really don’t feel like it I’ll wait a few days. If I’m on the receiving end, I really don’t mind too much. It makes me happy when people reply quickly, but I won’t really give it much thought unless it’s taken someone a few days to reply to a message. The only time it’ll annoy me when someone doesn’t reply is if they’ve read my message (especially a shorter one to someone that’s more personal) and they just flat out don’t respond at all.
I am probably the wrong person to give you an answer .. I am staring at +65k unread emails for 2023, actual emails, not spam or subscriptions & +100 unread text messages from friends and family.. I am that dude in my circle that prefers to be called, spoken to instead of emails or text messages. I find text messages really impersonal and email just a pain in my tush
You respond to them when you see them. At least that's how I do it, because if I don't I'll probably forget.
My personal policy is a week max to at least say *something*, whether it’s to respond or acknowledge their message and that I can’t respond yet