Sam Carry

How to Handle Pre First Date Texting

It isn't unusual nowadays for guys and girls to start texting each other before their first date.

Once phone numbers are exchanged, this is often the way a relationship is initiated. If, however, you are unprepared to handle this subtle but obvious transition from strangers to text-mates, these tips from Loveawake dating site experts might be really useful to you.

Know whether you’re Comfortable with Pre First Date Texting

The first obvious but surprisingly overlooked aspect of this is to figure out whether you’re actually okay with this. A lot of women – and even men – are actually not very thrilled to be on someone’s fast-dial list when they barely even know them and haven’t even gone out on the first date yet. You might justify it saying that it’s just a few innocent text messages, but this is exactly the sort of thing that could escalate into something you didn’t want. So, first, you need to review that first message very carefully and think about whether you want to encourage it or put a stop to it.

Nurturing the Conversation

You can actually choose the direction that the text thread takes. If things are getting too personal, you can politely tell the person that you’d rather meet first before sharing that kind of information. On the other hand, if the conversation turns boring, you can always “forget” to respond to their messages a couple of times in the hope that they get the hint and stop texting you. It’s often hard to do anything when they send “Happy Weekend” or similar messages to you. In such cases, you can either wait and see if they continue to message you or you can take the bull by the horns and take that thread to closure one way or another.

Beware the Boor

Pre first date texting is also a great way to judge a personality. For example, if you notice that the messages are always about them and not you, then it’s reasonable to think that they won’t be much different in a face to face situation.

Experts believe that even though most people think it’s a good way of breaking the ice before that awkward first date, that these texts actually give people a false sense of being intimate with a person even before meeting them. This results in unrealistically high expectations when you actually do meet the person face to face – and subsequent disappointment.

Probably the worst possible outcome of the pre first date texting phenomenon is the mismatch in chemistries when you two finally meet. Your brains are already in sync to a certain degree, but your physical selves are only just getting used to each other. This leads to discomfort without knowing why, and it usually points to the fact that you may know things about each other that a couple on their first date together usually wouldn’t!

Loveawake online dating site recently commissioned a survey in which over half the respondents admitted that their phones were the reason they communicated more with their potential first dates. The trend is obvious, but it can be controlled if you know how. These texting tips and bits of useful information should help you handle the situation and keep it (literally) in the palm of your hand at all times.