An expert has claimed that many WhatsApp users are breaking social rules with one simple action.
Etiquette expert Liz Wyse, from Debrett's, told the Mirror that it is "inconsiderate" to message or call your friends and family past a certain time each evening. She explained that we are all guilty of breaking social rules with our phones, including contacting people after 9pm.
And it's not just the evening when you should be considerate of the time. The expert said that texting too early can also be considered rude too and you should try to stick to after 8am.
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She said: "It is generally accepted that it is inconsiderate to text or make calls late at night and, although there is no absolute cut-off, for most people this means after 9pm. The main reason for this is that people start to wind down by mid-evening and it is therefore rude to jerk them out of their pre-sleep routine, unless you have a very good reason.
"Many people find it hard to resist answering texts and engaging in a text dialogue late at night is over-stimulating. We’re all very aware of good sleep hygiene these days and it is generally agreed that it is a bad idea to look at screens late at night, so why inflict your bad texting habits on other people? Even if you meticulously turn your phone to silent, you may still be disturbed by vibrations or the screen lighting up on your bedside table."
The expert added that there is one exception to the late-night text rule - if you have a previous agreement that texting after 9pm is acceptable. But otherwise, you should wait until morning to fire off that message - preferably after 8am.
She said: "Of course, there are exceptions to this rule – if you’re a real night owl and you have a friend who is similarly insomniac then you may well have an agreement between you that late-night texting is acceptable.
"If you feel the urge to text late at night, resist it. It is much better to wait until morning. After 8am is a good general guideline, though you might want to leave it an hour or two later at weekends.
"Our phones make us perpetually accessible, but always being on-call can become very stressful. Avoiding night-time calls is considerate because you’re recognising the need that everyone has to de-compress and switch off."
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