Whose Fault Is it If Your Phone Wakes You Up in the Middle of the Night?

You get a call or a text in the middle of the night, nothing serious, just someone who's up and decides to call or text you. Whose fault is it that you were awakened—yours or the person who woke you up?

The last contact you have with the outside world before turning in at night is usually by way of your phone. You might keep it beside you in the bed or place it on the nightstand before driving off to sleep. But what if it goes off in the middle of the night, is that your fault for not turning it off, putting it on silent/do not disturb or turning off all notifications?

According to a survey by YouGov, it's your fault.

50% of people said the fault lies in the owner of the phone, 36% believe it's the fault of the person trying to contact you in the middle of the night and the rest aren't sure.

There are thousands of opinions online about calling and/or texting someone in the middle of the night.

Sending a late-night text can be risky: what if you wake the other person up, or they assume there’s an emergency? That’s why we’ve compiled some helpful tips about the etiquette of late-night texting, as well as some example messages you can send if it’s after dark. And, if you receive a late-night text, we’ll help you figure out what it means and how exactly you can respond. -John Keegan and Hannah Madden of wikiHow.John Keegan and Hannah Madden

Texting Etiquette