Or, if you have history with the person, you can hit them with a “remember this?” and send a photo of something you did or saw together, or an inside joke. Instead, open with something thoughtful or playful, try a “this reminded me of you” and send a song or a photo.

Seeing how the other person is coping is a thoughtful way of starting a conversation, but opening with pandemic-speak really doesn’t really set the correct vibe for what is meant to be a light, pleasant, or sexy exchange. In these trying times, it may be your instinct to hide your frisky intentions behind the veneer of concerned check-in. These are lazy and careless initiators: They leave the onus of a conversational response on your partner, which they have every right not to give. Try it out with your crush or as a titillating pregame to your Zoom date, or test it out with your partner as they sweat over their sourdough starter in the next room.ĭon’t be lazy. Unless you want to fill your partner with dread, a lone “hey” or “hi” are undesirable openers likewise “what’s up” and “you up?” are even less appetizing. With that in mind, we’ve curated some advice on flirty texting. But, really, flirting is just a conversation - a warm, funny, and ostensibly enjoyable one. The truth is that both the fun and the stress of texting (and sexting) come from the same thing: It’s uncertainty, the thrill of not quite knowing how seriously to take your flirting partner, the fun of implying “maybe” or “I might” without making promises. But even for those of us who have been doing this since our early teens, texting can still feel like a fickle mating dance, one where a wrongly interpreted emoji can be a source of grief and confusion. For many who came of age at the dawn of instant messaging, text-based flirting might come more naturally than face-to-face conversation.

Conversations starters over text flirty