A bit of background: I'm in my 30s. I understand that, without things like high school, college, or group activities. It can be really easy to lose friendships by just not talking to each other. I try to be the one who reaches out once in a while.
Lately, within the last year, two of my friendships have been getting into a pattern that is really annoying to me. I send them a message following a conversation that we had or just saying, "Hi, how is it going?" and they sometimes take up to 2 to 4 weeks to respond.
On the one hand, I tell myself that we are adults now, and we are all busy, so I don't expect a response ASAP.
On the other hand, it's not like I'm talking to the CEO of a company. They are just regular guys living regular boring lives like we all do. I get that people can be busy with things and can take time to respond, but I think weeks is way too much.
If you told me that it happened once, it would be one thing, but now it is becoming the norm. Most people now have their phones close to them all the time. There are even studies of how we get a dopamine hit every time we get a notification/message on our phones., and I know it's not like they are working in a factory or something like that and can't use their phone for hours.
I don't want to come out as entitled to anyone's attention, but it kind of makes me feel like I'm begging or something. It feels like I'm bothering them when I message them. I've been thinking about dropping the relationship, but I want to get a different perspective here.