Text stalking is the term we use to refer to unwanted texting/attention by one person to another person. Many people write in to ask when text harrassment crosses the line and actually turns into bonefide stalking with possible legal ramifications.
Texting someone alone will probably not get you arrested. Say you are obsessed with a man (or woman) and constantly text them asking them what they are doing etc. Or, if you were in some sort of relationship then broke up and you just can’t accept it so you keep contacting the person months after the breakup trying to patch things up.
If your texts are non threatening you can always try to reconcile, at least for a while. But trust me that one simple text after a six week “no contact” is going to be alot more effective than one thousand pleading texts over that same six week period. If your texts are unwanted by the recipient then at a certain point in time your relentless texting, or texting coupled with behaviors such as threatening or following them, turns into stalking. Stalking is against the law.
Volume of text messages can be a form of harrassment
It is true that constantly bothering someone on text message all day long can be considered harrassment. What if such texts upset them or affect their employment or even prevents them from communicating with other people. If you are on record for texting someone dozens if not hundreds of times daily for months on end then they will have documentation of that on their phone bills.
If things get nasty a humongous volume of texts over an extended period of time really does make you look pretty bad. Especially, when you couple your obsessive texting with their very clear attempts to inform you that they do not wish to communicate and asking you to cease and desist contacting them.
Threatening text messages can be considered stalking
Now you know that sending high volumes of unwanted texts can be considered harrassment. Stalking, is more concisely defined as you communicating a threat or actually placing the victem in fear for their safety.
If you are psyco texting Paris Hilton and you’ve never met her in your life, then she would no doubt feel stalked by virtue of your constant obsession. Texting a total stranger or person that does not even know you really is stalking. More than likely though, you are obsessed with someone you already know and maybe were involved with (the more common scenario).
If your texts are threatening in nature, then absolutely, texting can become stalking. If you are threatening to hurt somebody, destroy their property, come find them, get back at them, etc, etc then it could be considered stalking. If you threaten for example to “kick somebody’s a-s” it’s a physical threat and can scare a person and thus be rightfully construed as stalking.
Obsessive texts coupled with Violence to person or property is obviously stalking
If you hurt somebody, hurt their property, etc and you couple this with obsessively texting them then you are treading into dangerous illegal territory and there could be legal ramifications for your behavior. Never threaten someone on a text message. Text messages don’t disappear and they can be documented along with responses and forwarded to an email and saved to file for posperity.
If you threaten to take someone down because they stole your girlfriend or boyfriend, text them nonstop and key their car for example, it’s stalking. Obsessive texting plus any sort of threats verbal or actual will be refered to as stalking.
Knowing when to Give up that relationship
Text stalking can often stem from getting scorned, cheated on, left, divorced or dumped. One person is still emotionally involved and may be even in love so they continue to try and communicate to either makeup or vent their anger and frustrations over the break up. This type of texting is intrusive and you should not do it.
Not only that, conventional breakup advice is to give a person space if they ask for it. How to makeup with your ex books preach the theory that giving them space and separation can actually increase a your chances for reconciliation rather than decrease your chances.
Respecting boundries is extremely important if you are seriously trying to make up with someone. Texting and harrassing them won’t help and if you have come here wondering if your texting is harrassment then trust your gut and believe that it is. You would not want to get in legal trouble for any reason. It’s important to recognize when you have crossed the line into intrusiveness and know when to fold and back off.
Consider the accumulative effect of your texting
Always remember that text communications are just as easily documented as real emails. Any text can be forwarded to an email account and recorded into a file. If you have accumulatively harrassed someone over time with constant texts these can all be recorded and used as proof of your stalking pattern. If the texts are angry, hostile, threatening or scary then once again that adds even more proof of your stalking.
Sending a text is not illegal. But text harrassment can become illegal when you frequently, willingly and repeatedly send texts to an unwilling recipient over time. If someone is creating a trail of texts that say “Stop texting me” or “I do not wish to hear from you” or “Leave me alone” then you need to take these calls to cease and desist very seriously. Stop texting and do not become a stalker.
If someone wants to stop your or block your incoming unwanted texts they can typically block your number or change their phone number or even turn off their own texting. Usually, they will try this before taking legal action. If you do not heed their warnings to stop contacting them you could get into trouble. For example, let’s say they block your number and then you continue to harrass them through another restricted number. That can be considered stalking.
Quit texting and give up. Don’t become a text stalker
If you are over texting someone who does not wish to hear from you and your texts have a threatening tone and/or are coupled with other unwanted intrustions such as emails and stopping by their home etc, then texter beware. You need help. Stop texting and move on from this person. Do not let a failed or non existent relationship get you into legal trouble. Get the help that you need to quit texting this person, leave them alone and get on with your life. If you love the person then quitting obsessive behavior can even help you get back together with them if they really care about you.
Thus, there are so many reasons to quit obsessively texting. You retain your dignity, you restore a small chance of reconciliation, and you avoid a restraining order or stalking lawsuit. All good reasons to quit texting him or her.
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Simple way for the recipient to deal with several or numerous texts is to simply respond. In many cases, all that’s really wanted is a simple “hi” or “yes” response to the original text. Often times the reason for the five additional texts is failure to respond to the first…it really is simple.