Once again, I’m reminded of how text “conversations” make me uncomfortable. When my correspondent stops responding, I never know if it’s because my correspondent was distracted by something else, or tired of the conversation, or if I’ve said something that made my correspondent simply want to stop responding. Intellectually, I know I’m rarely so appalling in what I text, but that worry is always in my mind, and I wind up going over the last text I sent several times to make sure I haven’t said anything too untoward.

Yes, yes, I know: texting is one continual conversation with randomly spaced lacunae which can last from moments to days, but my “face-to-face conversation” brain still wants some sort of signal, that this is simply a pause, not a permanent end.