My whole life I've been told I'm a bad texter. I recently looked back at my old facebook account from around 2010 and found public posts from friends asking why I never respond. People are STILL saying the same thing to me on WhatsApp. The thing is... I'm actually very social in real life. I love meeting new people, talking to strangers, going to events, and spending time with friends. I just get SO drained by online communication. I've noticed this comes up a lot in dating too. Modern dating seems to rely heavily on constant texting, meme sharing, "good morning" messages, and daily check ins (in the early stages too with dudes I just matched with). Most of the guys I've met have struggled to understand that I don't use WhatsApp the way most people do (it's heavily used where I currently live, like even at work and businesses, and delivery drivers etc.). Some guys actually took it personally despite me explaining my dumbphone lifestyle, lack of social media use, and that I can only check WhatsApp when I have access to my laptop. A lot act entitled even. Like who are you to demand I change my lifestyle and go "online" more frequently so I can respond to your texts when we literally just matched on app a week ago. What frustrates me is that wanting to be offline is treated as rude, avoidant, or abnormal. Like I know checking WhatsApp once a week sounds like blasphemy to a lot of people. But most of my close friends live abroad and with local friends I usually just call to make plans or catch up. I've lived in different countries and have friends all over the place. I simply can't maintain conversations with everyone every day. It's time-consuming and draining. I'd much rather reply in chunks, almost like writing letters. I'm curious if anyone else here feels drained by modern texting culture and the expectation of being constantly available because everyone around me is telling me I'm being extreme :(