Among the somewhat questionable friendly practices, here is “text-tunism”, an unfortunately quite common process of which you could be a victim.
What is the practice of “textotunism”?
One of your friends never responds to your messages? If he only responds to you when he needs to ask you for a favor, then you may be a victim of “text-tunism.” This word comes from the mixture of the words “texting” and “opportunism”. This is a person who behaves opportunistically via messages, only responding to you when they need to contact you or benefit from your exchanges. Conversely, when this person doesn’t need you, it’s radio silence, even when you’re waiting for a response from them. She also doesn’t check on you or give you any news, but reappears occasionally in your life to ask you for a service or the address of a good restaurant, for example.
Good in his body, good in his head!
A practice that can cause you to lose friends
If this phenomenon happens regularly, you may feel used and find the relationship with your friend more utilitarian than reciprocal. “ Lack of reciprocity and consistently one-sided or transactional responses can make a person feel like they lack social support or feel like they are being used or exploited. » comments American therapist Nicole Saunders, to the American version of Huffpost.
The specialist specifies, however, that you must exercise caution before judging that you are a victim of text messaging because “it is not because a loved one takes time to respond to you that they necessarily have bad intentions. If this bad habit is the only criticism you have to make of a caring and attentive loved one, it may be that this person is not necessarily harmful to you” she explains.
The psychologist adds:that it is possible that this person receives a lot of texts and is therefore less available, without ignoring you. Maybe your friend is overwhelmed and doesn’t have time to respond. Some people forget to respond to their messages more easily than others. Some people just don’t like this way of communicating..”
You should therefore not form a negative opinion about your friend too quickly. The best way is to talk to him about it and see his reaction!
