Poll: texts in the middle of the night

[rh71]

Do you turn your phone off completely in the middle of the night? You would think vibrate would work but it still makes a noise if on a hard surface and I also have phone notifications buzzing the Fitbit watch I use to measure my sleep. I actually have my phone on a soft surface but the latter hit me tonight because someone thought it would be a good idea to group text at 430am. I happened to be awake anyway though.

Is it acceptable for others to be texting or emailing (still buzzes) you in the middle of the night thinking you won't get it till morning? I've had to think about this before sending something out even as late as midnight because I got flak for it once.

 

[pcgeek11]

If I think someone is sleeping and it isn't an emergency no text period. I don't worry about it myself as I never take a phone into the bedroom when I am sleeping.

 

[BoomerD]

I just kill the volume at night for everything on the cell phones. If you NEED to get ahold of me at night, you probably have my landline number. If not, leave a message, I'll get back to you when it's convenient for me.

 

[pete6032]

My phone is on silent so it doesn't bother me if I get texts or emails in the middle of the night.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I turn my work phone down at night, my personal stays on for emergencies.

 

[stargazr]

I don't have my phone in the bedroom.

 

[sdifox]

Your phone doesn't have do not disturbe mode?

 

[BarkingGhostar]

If I do not wish to be disturbed, I enable the DND feature of my phone, which makes the fucker silent. But a monkey needs to be uplifted to know this.

 

[arandomguy]

I treat it like any other form of written communication. The sender sends it when convenient for them, and the respondent replies when convenient for them if necessary unless the message implies some different time frame of response (I don't necessarily even reply to texts when I receive them).

But I'm on the relatively younger side and grew up with things like e-mail and instant messaging, but this how letter mail or telegrams worked as well. I can see how if you associate text messaging and etc. with phone communication you might have a differing opinion of it.

 

[RockinZ28]

Do not disturb for me every night, especially since I've been on swing shift for a few weeks. My sleep is more important than whatever work or anyone else has to say.

Can also enable exceptions like parents in case of emergency.

 

[sdifox]

If I do not wish to be disturbed, I enable the DND feature of my phone, which makes the fucker silent. But a monkey needs to be uplifted to know this.

Mine has scheduling. I think I have it set to 10pm-6am. I don't remember since it's been a while since I set it up.

 

[lxskllr]

Email only. That's like a letter, and is treated with equal urgency. It's expected to be muted or ignored for an indeterminate period of time. A text is somewhere between a call and email, and I'd expect people to keep their phones on in case something needs attention. A phone call has immediate urgency. I don't call or text after 9pm unless something needs immediate attention. Email can go out any time.

 

[highland145]

Blocked. Luddites unite.

I just kill the volume at night for everything on the cell phones. If you NEED to get ahold of me at night, you probably have my landline number. If not, leave a message, I'll get back to you when it's convenient for me.

Yeah but if you need that kidney....

 

[Brainonska511]

Doesn't matter to me since I set automatic DND rules on my phone. From 1130PM-8AM, my phone will not bother me.

 

[Anubis]

My phone is on silent so it doesn't bother me if I get texts or emails in the middle of the night.

this, its set to go to do not disturb automatically at 11 PM, and comes back on at 8 AM on weekdays and 10 am on weekends

 

[Meghan54]

The obligatory "true" Luddite response......"What's a text?"

 

[shortylickens]

I turn my phone off at night.

Nothing important happens when I'm asleep and if someone has an emergency they should fucking call 911.

 

[Red Storm]

Of course it's okay. It's up to the receiver to determine if they want to be bothered by notifications or not. If you don't want to be disturbed at night you use common sense and turn on do not disturb mode.

I personally don't send texts late at night because I'd rather send it later in the morning.

 

[clamum]

I used to turn my phone off before going to bed but a manager at a previous job bitched at me for doing it. He liked to call me out of work hours for non-critical things that could have just been taken care of at work but no. Thank God I no longer work there.

Since I discovered the "Do Not Disturb" feature on my last phone, a Galaxy S7, I have been using that and it works awesome. I put the phone on DND before getting in bed and only calls from favored contacts make a noise; all emails and texts are silent.

As for me I don't call or text someone at night, past like 10 pm unless I know they're awake.

 

[BurnItDwn]

text is for "when you eventually see this message" ....
If somebody wants to wake me up, they need to call me, and it better be important.

 

[Exterous]

Mine is on a soft surface at home so not big deal there. Even a vibration or two on a hard surface won't wake me. Now 50+ work slack notifications because I forgot to set a 'Do not disturb' window when I traveled from the Eastern timezone to the Pacific timezone was absolutely enough to wake me up

 

[rh71]

Your phone doesn't have do not disturbe mode?

Hah didn't even know it allowed exceptions - thought it was just another silence. I need the exceptions in case of a family emergency.

Anyway, I don't think we should depend on the other person to silence their phone just before bed vs. having the courtesy not to bother them at a late hour. In my situation, we have a group text among parents for our kids' activity and I don't expect them all to be tech-savvy enough to utilize DND or remember to silence it every night before bed. Out of 20 text recipients, wouldn't you hesitate even a little bit to text out at 4:30am?

It is nice though that DND allows scheduling so no interaction is needed at night (and I no longer have to put it on vibrate purposely either).

 

[rh71]

The obligatory "true" Luddite response......"What's a text?"

I used to be the same way - blocked texts because I had to pay for each of them, even incoming that I didn't solicit. Then more modern phone plans came into play and texts are included in the price which made me realize how convenient they really are. You don't have to take a fricken phone call for every little thing. And it's more immediate than email which the avg person doesn't check but a couple times a day.

Nothing important happens when I'm asleep and if someone has an emergency they should fucking call 911.

I kind of want to know if my immediate family member is headed for the hospital or if there was some emergency at their house. Look at it from their perspective... you cannot be reached in an emergency (maybe you intend it that way).

 

[dainthomas]

I have "do not disturb" mode turned on during scheduled hours. The only noise it makes is alarms or if there are repeated calls from the same number (5-6 times I think).

But I would never text someone in the middle of the night in case they didn't take any precautions.

 

[OutHouse]

Emergencies seem to happen at night so my phone is always on and in the bedroom when I'm sleeping. Plus being in IT it's pretty much a requirement.