How to Practice Text Etiquette

Texting on cell phones is a worldwide "fad" for good reason. It is a simpler and faster way for people to relay quick and short messages to one another without having to waste calling minutes. However, it's always good to practice text etiquette for different kinds of situations.

Steps

Many phones come with sound levels such as "vibrate," "loud," "soft," or a combination of the two. Have a habit of changing the volume tone to a low level or, better yet, silent. Keep doing this habit so that you have practice of changing it back and forth once you are in a comfort zone of having a loud ring tone or alert.
Places that restrict people from using cell phones to call should be practiced while texting people. If sound disruption is the issue, for example, a library or waiting room at the doctor's clinic, then placing the phone on either silent or vibrate would be acceptable for you to continue texting.
Prioritize other people's company over texting. If you are chatting amongst a group of people or one person at a coffee shop or taking a walk somewhere, try to ignore texting as much as possible until the party leaves or you have gone somewhere alone such as a restroom. If the text is very important, apologize to your party first, then text. Never make it seem like your phone is more important than their presence.
Texting should stay short, but still getting the point across. Avoid dragging text messages over two pages, which is the time to just call the person and explain the matter to them. You also don't want them to wait longer than expected for a text and then bomb them with pages of your reply.
SMS is defined as "Short Messaging Service." This means some phones are only capable of a limit of characters in a text (about 160 is the average). If the sent text has more than the limit, some of the message may be either cut off or sent into 2 or more text messages towards the receiver of the message.
Acronyms and abbreviations are the fastest way to get a message across, but knowledge of what they are comes with it. Think about if they would or wouldn't understand it. If they wouldn't, don't use it.
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Texting is a method to get a quick message or a very short conversation across. Don't end up spending more than enough time texting; if the conversation strays on, or is very important, then it's time to call the person.
- To know how to end a text message politely, see: How to End a Text Conversation.
The last thing you want is true feelings about a boss or an ex coming out in public. It may sound fun to do while tipsy or drunk, but not the next morning.
Even today, not all plans come with unlimited texting. More than that, not everyone likes text messages. You could be sending a text message into a black hole or costing someone else money! Your 50 cents worth of text messages may not seem like a lot to you, but think about all the other people sending "Happy Birthday" and "Merry Christmas" texts as well - they could easily pay $10 for that month's texts. Is it fair to have them pay for your text or get unlimited texting for your benefit? If in doubt - call instead.
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Tips

If a person does not reply back in a given time, there may be a chance that either the phone is off, they are too busy to reply, or they are not available at the moment. Don't text repeatedly about their presence.
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Don't forget to cut to the chase, don't go on about irrelevant stuff, this way the person getting texted to won't get irritated.
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Always be respectful of text costs. Depending on a person's provider, sending and receiving text messages can add up between 5 and 25 cents (US) each.
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