Are you asking yourself why can’t I stop texting? There are many reasons you might develop an addiction to texting but the most common are 1) that you can’t stop texting an ex because you aren’t over them, 2) you have an obsessive personality, and 3) you are relying on text too heavily for social purposes.
Can’t stop texting an ex
The biggest cause of addiction to texting is when you can’t stop texting an ex. The reason is that it is hard to let go of a relationship that did not or is not working out. The fact that you are still texting him or her often means that you still have feelings for your ex. If your ex texts you back then perhaps there is hope that the relationship can be repaired. If however, you are the only one doing the texting and your ex does not respond, it’s a problem. If the texts are only going one way (you to them) it will not help your relationship to continue texting.
Texting someone that does not wish to be contacted will only do one thing and that is ruin the relationship. If you read my posts on texting and relationships you’ll understand better that in order to save your relationship or have any chance at getting your ex back you need to stop texting and this web site should help give you tools and techniques to do just that. Once you are convinced that texting won’t help matters, you’ll be able to start taking the steps you need to take to grow up and stop texting.
Obsessive Personality
If you can’t stop texting or sending e-mails you may have a tendency towards a mental illness that psychiatrists are diagnosing as obsessive texting. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have it, but it does mean you have a tendency to obsess which is not all that uncommon. What this means that you get addicted easily and can’t control your compulsive behavior as well as other people can. It can be as simple as being spoiled to where you can’t take no for an answer, or as complicated as you becoming a stalker without really realizing it until you get into some serious trouble.
The unfortunate thing is that once you start obsessive texting its really hard to quit. You’re usually been doing it for a while and it’s an established bad habit already. Sometimes a partner inadvertently nurtures and encourages the bad habit by accepting it as OK in the beginning so that a pattern of constant texting is normal. Then later, the texting buddy tires of the situation and asks to be left alone. You’re already entrenched into a bad behavior therefore breaking your dependence can be hard.
Social texting
With the advent of texting, social networking and smart phone e-mails, everyone is becoming socially dependent on text messaging as a means of communicating and even managing relationships. Usually your social dependency on text is caused by two things at opposite ends of the social spectrum. At one end is the person who is bored and therefore is texting all the time out of that boredom and loneliness. At the other end is the person who is a social butterfly and is getting an ego or emotional thrill over constantly texting for social networking.
Boredom and Loneliness
Texting out of boredom and loneliness is the harder of the two scenarios to quit. If you are for example, stuck at a boring job and rely on texting a buddy constantly and then that person no longer wishes to text all the time it can be disconcerting. You might be lonely because you relied on one relationship too heavily for your emotional happiness and now that person pulled the rug out from under you by cutting contact. The key is to realize you are relying on texting way to much and slowly start to fill your boredom with other things. You might have to make new friends, find other things to do, turn over a new leaf, even get online and start dating new people if loneliness is the problem. The key is to involve and busy yourself with other things in order to help break your bad habit. There is a vacuum, and you need to fill it in with something other than texts.
Social butterfly
Texting out of social butterfly syndrome is the easiest type of addiction to texting to deal with. Usually you have plenty to do and are essentially running a three ring circus on text. Sometimes it’s with your friend click, other times you are juggling relationships. If you have plenty to do, then all you need to do is realize you are texting to much and try to take your social life off of the electronic medium. Start doing things with your local group of friends rather than texting all the time. Make your conversations on text shorter and to the point. The easiest way to cut back is to stick to plan making and logistics on text and stop having ambling conversations with people on text.
What to do if you text too much
If you text too much or are trying to cope with someone that won’t stop texting you, this site is the right place for you. The thing to do is recognize you have a problem first of all. Next, you can read more about the implications of over texting and how it has potential to ruin relationships that you are involved in be it friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, business partners, spouses or otherwise. The first step to stopping your own text behavior is to try and implement the 48 hour rule which is to say, be able to put yourself on ice and not text a person that you are over texting, for 48 hours. Once you can do that, you’ll be well on your way to curing your texting.
Whether you are texting because you can’t move on from your ex, texting out of an obsessive tendency, or texting for social reasons, you can get off the texting merry go round. The good thing is that texting is not a drug habit or anything that can physically harm your body. It is a very bad habit indeed but one that you can cure yourself of if you just put your mind to it. It may take some people months when it only takes others days to cut down on texting but rest assured most people can get their texting under control in time. It may take some effort but you should be able to get a handle on your addiction to texting and get it under wraps before someone gets hurt by your habit.
|
