I’m up to my wits with my boyfriend’s poor communication skills. I try to keep our communication lines quite open so a couple texts or an email here and there throughout the day just to see how his day is going and talk about mine.

I know he has no actual problem with the texts but his real problem is that he barely replies to them and when I ask why, he responds by saying " there wasn’t a question”. Okay, I can laugh at the simplicity of his answer but it does bug sometimes. What is it about men and their lack of communication skills? They can have excellent communication skills in real life but when it comes to replying to a simple text, it turns into rocket science. Just enlighten me a little on the male brain.AmandaHello Amanda,I wish I could give you straight answer for this question is quite tricky. I assume from your letter that the communication in your relationship is satisfactory, so that’s a plus. If you send SMS’s during work hours, the issue might simply be due to the fact that most men can’t multi-task. Often I marvel at my own girlfriend’s ability to SMS someone, while talking to someone else, while doing something else. It’s absolutely amazing. If he has a high stress job, he might simply be trying to concentrate on one thing, and then later, concentrating on your SMS. Maybe, take a step back and let him initiate the communication. In my personal opinion, SMS’s are horrible means of communication, they fail to reflect inflection, tone, humour or urgency and because of this, they have the ability to cause misunderstanding. I suggest a phone call, a few times a day.   Regards,                                     To get an answer to questions you always wanted to ask a man: email itsaguything@newtimes.co.rw