RECEIVED

BUREAU OF ROMANTIC AFFAIRS

EST. 1975 · SYDNEY · ONLINE SERVICES PORTAL · FORM BRA-00

Random Testing Unit · Form RT-05

Should I Text My Ex?

Please pull over your thumbs. Before any correspondence with a former party is cleared, the Unit assesses transcription and judgement. Sixty (60) seconds, then a verdict. This unit has prevented 1 correspondence incidents.

Form RT-05 — Roadside Assessment of Correspondence Fitness

Two stages. Stage one: transcribe today's test sentence exactly; time is a factor. Stage two: three (3) judgement questions. Three (3) tests per person per day. A failed test while holding a licence records offence BR-01.
Stage One — Transcription

Today's test sentence. Timing commences at your first keystroke.

Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vibe: impaired, sentimental, over the limit.
Stage Two — Judgement

STOP. REVIVE. DON'T TEXT.

Why the Unit stops you

The impulse to make contact is not distributed evenly across the day. It arrives late, it arrives after drinking, and it arrives disguised as something reasonable — a question about a returned jumper, a link they would find funny, a birthday that felt rude to ignore. The Unit is not interested in the pretext. It is interested in whether you can currently copy one sentence accurately and answer three questions sensibly, because a person who cannot do those things should not be drafting correspondence that will still exist tomorrow.

Stage one measures transcription: the test sentence rotates daily and is scored on accuracy and time. Stage two measures judgement, which is scored against answers the Bureau considers obvious. Passing both clears you to correspond. Failing either records offence BR-01 against the licence and issues a notice you may keep, which most holders find sobering enough to close the application.

How long to wait before making contact

Where the question is not whether but when, the Bureau records thirty (30) days as the minimum interval and sixty (60) to ninety (90) days where the file was long or the ending contested. The interval exists so that any message sent afterwards is a decision rather than a reflex. For a calculated interval specific to your file, the rebound countdown will hand down a sentence in days.

Common questions

Should I text my ex?

Usually not on the night you most want to. The urge is strongest when judgement is weakest — late, tired, or after drinking — and the message that feels overdue at 2am rarely reads the same at 9am. Take the two-stage test on this page before sending anything: it assesses transcription accuracy and judgement, and returns a plain pass or fail.

How long should I wait before texting an ex after a breakup?

Most no-contact guidance settles on thirty (30) days as a minimum, and sixty (60) to ninety (90) days where the relationship was long or the ending was contested. The purpose of the wait is not punishment; it is to let the impulse to send pass so that anything you do send is a decision rather than a reflex.

Why do I want to text my ex at 2am?

Late at night the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain that weighs consequences — is least active, while loneliness and recall of good memories are at their sharpest. Alcohol widens the gap further. The wanting is real; it is simply not evidence that sending is a good idea.

Am I too drunk to text my ex?

If you are asking, the answer is generally yes. The transcription stage of this test is a rough proxy: if you cannot copy a single sentence accurately and at a reasonable speed, you are not in a fit state to compose something a sober person will have to live with tomorrow.

I texted my ex last night. What do I do now?

Nothing, immediately. Do not send a second message explaining the first — a follow-up doubles the record and rarely improves it. If a reply comes, answer it plainly once. If none comes, treat the silence as the answer and leave the file closed.

Should I break no contact?

Only for a specific, practical reason you could state out loud without embarrassment — returning property, a shared obligation, a genuine emergency. Missing someone is a reason to feel something, not a reason to send something.

Standing advisories

The Unit's guidance on correspondence with a former party, issued free and without a test.

The full set is held at Standing Advisories.

Related counters

If the arrangement never ended because it was never defined, the situationship test will classify it. If you would like the conduct itself assessed rather than the correspondence, the infringements office issues fines denominated in remorse. The full directory is held at Online Services.