You should first determine what a long gap in communication really is for you as you consider how to go about handling this.
What constitutes a long gap in communication can differ from person to person.
You may be the type who expects to hear back from someone within a few minutes to no more than an hour or two.
Anything beyond that may be considered a long gap for you.
Indeed, this may have been the norm in relationships that you have had with men that you met through real life circumstances.
However, you are online dating now.
It is important to understand that when you are online dating, you are going to meet different types of men in all works of life.
These are men that may have a work or daily schedule that contradicts what you have been used to in the men that you have dated through traditional real life circumstances.
These men may be in totally different occupations that you have never encountered in men that you have dated in real life.
They may also have different backgrounds.
What you may consider to be a long gap in communication with a guy like this may actually be more of the norm for them.
They may not think anything of taking several hours to respond to your message because that is what they are used to.
That is how they go about talking to people in their day to day lives.
It may be due to a busier schedule, an inability to use a phone during work hours or just plain habit.
To them, taking a few hours to respond to a message from you may be just the norm.
They may have no idea that this affects you negatively.
This is why you need to make a true assessment of what you believe to be a “long gap” in communication.
When you are online dating, it is often necessary to be more open to other people’s schedules.
If you worry that these gaps in communication that last a few hours are an indication of a lack of interest, you should not be so quick to draw that conclusion.
Again, you need to consider what this person’s schedule is like.
You also need to take the actual conversations that you have with this person into account.
Are they taking the time to get to know you when you are both engaged in a full-fledged conversation by asking you well-thought-out questions?
Do they ask follow-up questions to answers you have given them in previous conversations?
Are they open about their life and descriptive about experiences that they have had similar to your own?
Are they energetic and fun?
If they are all these things in conversation, they are showing interest.
As long as you aren’t finding yourself consistently waiting for days to get a response from the guy, there is really nothing to worry about.
Now, on the flip side, if he is consistently taking days to respond to your messages and when he does, he rarely gets into substantive conversations with you, you may be dealing with a guy who is just not all that interested in you.
He may be spending the bulk of his time conducting conversations with women that he has a lot more interest in and only gets back to you during a lull in those conversations.
In a scenario like this, it would be best not to waste any more of your precious time in talking to this guy no matter how interested you are.
A guy who puts out this little effort will rarely be a good match.
You will have to be the one who is constantly trying to get his attention and this will only make you look desperate and of very low value.