In October, Josh Seefried received a text he’s gotten many, many times before. “Call me,” an older family member wrote.
It contained no punctuation and didn’t explain whether the request was an emergency or nothing to worry about. Did someone die, or did the family member just need help logging into Netflix?
“It creates a sense of urgency where it’s not needed,” says Seefried, a 39-year-old communications manager who lives in Annapolis, Md. It turned out the family member wanted to chat about Christmas plans.
The text annoyed him so much that Seefried posted about the exchange on X, where it received more than 32,000 likes and 5,000 comments with people commiserating.
He isn’t alone in his anguish. For years, people have complained about receiving “call me” texts from parents, siblings, colleagues and bosses.
Much like how generations interpret emojis differently and Apple’s tapback message reactions don’t mean the same thing to everyone, the meaning—and urgency—of “call me” isn’t consistent. If “call me” comes with a GIF or an emoji, it could mean the conversation isn’t serious. Used with a period, some may interpret it as a sign of trouble. No punctuation could indicate there’s an emergency.
“I can’t just drop everything to call you,” Seefried says. “I need to know whether or not it’s an emergency.”
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