How long would it take to notice you were missing?

The Young Wan

Say you go completely off radar. No social media, no answering phone calls, completely disappear. How long will it take for someone to notice something is amiss?

NegativeCreep

Probably around 4 hours. If I took that long to text my bf back he'd know something was up.

Winterlong

If I went off line for a few weeks I think there are only a small few that would notice.

If I physically went awol then I would be missed in hours.

Lady is a tramp

Less than 24 hours definitely. Probably less than two. Doubt it would be acted upon for a few days though. They'd know I was probably either dead or needing time alone. Either way, reporting me as a missing person etc in the media certainly wouldn't help matters!

tomwaterford

Emm.....I've not heard from my friends in about 6 weeks and over 12 months from another group I just gave up on!
(Long story)


About 2-3 weeks and my immediate family might notice....but I do make effort to stay in touch with them though

Sleepy

2/3 hours tops. Either work or the family would notice me missing.

FortySeven

Didn't go to work yesterday and got a garda call to check I was ok after 6 hours.

Not that one

"Didn't go to work yesterday and got a garda call to check I was ok after 6 hours."

Thats how merging back into the community and community service works.

Captain Chaos

About 3-4 days, and it would be work looking for me.

jiltloop

FortySeven wrote: »

Didn't go to work yesterday and got a garda call to check I was ok after 6 hours.

Are you a Garda by any chance? If so that kind of dilutes your story somewhat.

Lux23

It depends, on a weekend, maybe a couple of hours but during the week I leave the house at 8am and my boyfriend wouldn't be home until after 11.00pm so he could potentially go the whole day and not miss me. We wouldn't necessarily text or call during the day either way.

Lisha

Approx 3 mins, I can't go to the toilet (usually to eat biscuits in private) without my children launching a search party.

andekwarhola

Winterlong wrote: »

If I went off line for a few weeks I think there are only a small few that would notice. If I physically went awol then I would be missed in hours.

This.

Buona Fortuna

The dog would miss me. Not sure he could raise the alarm though.

FortySeven

jiltloop wrote: »

Are you a Garda by any chance? If so that kind of dilutes your story somewhat.

Bipolar. Everyone worries about me.

Car99

Depends on the last time the guard checked on me

Riddle101

If family is included then it would probably take a few hours. If I just disappeared abruptly and wasn't answering my phone or anything, i'm sure my mother would be worried about me. But as far as friends are concerned, I could fly off the radar for ages and I doubt any of them would notice

andekwarhola

Sure it's common enough only for the people that you live or work with to notice quickly.

I'm close to my friends and parents but at our age(s), we have our own lives. It wouldn't be a cause for alarm if they didn't hear from me even up to a week or two. Even longer for social media.

Deedeemazzy

I imagine I could go missing for a full weekend..
They might think I was just having a mood and not responding to social media/texts..
If I didn't show up to work, they would probably worry..
My cat though would miss me after a few hours..

Shint0

OP, it would entirely depend on your social circumstances and your own social network. In my case probably not that long as my husband would keep ringing me to know when I am coming home to ask what I am cooking for dinner when it is my turn. So I would probably just end up answering to stop him annoying me.

On a serious note it is often said that when people with known mental health issues go missing it is often presumed they went missing because of their health issues. This is quite worrying as we know from the Elaine O'Hara/Graham Dwyer case.

The Bishop Basher

A day, or at least until i didn't get home for dinner...

Estrellita

Few days or up to a week. I'm not very prompt when it comes to returning calls or texts, unless it's my OH or my Dad. Anyone else.. my phone could be ringing in my hand and I mightn't bother answering it. My door generally doesn't get answered unless I'm expecting anyone. It would take a while before anyone would notice anything odd, because I can be a little elusive at the best of times.

Inside my house is another issue. I can't even sit on the toilet without hearing one of the kids ask where I am :rolleyes:

KikiDee

Maybe a couple of days.

The Backwards Man

An hour before anyone would notice, a week before anyone would care.

Renegade Mechanic

People still haven't copped it

lawlolawl

Maybe the 12-15 hours between shifts at work.

I took two weeks off work recently and I could have disappeared the first day I was off and it wouldn't have been noticed until I was due back in work two weeks later. They'd probably have to inform my family

Being invisible is great. I should take more advantage of it really, become a spy selling secrets to the North Koreans or something.

Lady is a tramp

I'm disappearing from all social media including Boards for three months from Monday by the way. Just in case yizzers would be worried about me. I'm (probably!) not dead!

Anytime I've actually gone AWOL I've been captured and returned within a couple of hours. The efficiency of the Gardaí is amazing at times. Or maybe it's just hard to disappear in Dublin. (In fairness, most of those times I was gone missing from hospital ... so obviously that's going to be noticed quicker than in real life!)

Probably the next day. I have 2 housemates who'd think it was odd if I didn't come home without a heads-up and I'm in contact with my parents most days.

D0NNELLY

20mins. Have to collect the kids at 5

the evasion_kid

About 0.2 seconds judging by the amount of calls I get to help people out or do favours...

Elvis Lennon

8 hours

Lady is a tramp

Lady is a tramp wrote: »

I'm disappearing from all social media including Boards for three months from Monday by the way. Just in case yizzers would be worried about me. I'm (probably!) not dead!

Anytime I've actually gone AWOL I've been captured and returned within a couple of hours. The efficiency of the Gardaí is amazing at times. Or maybe it's just hard to disappear in Dublin. (In fairness, most of those times I was gone missing from hospital ... so obviously that's going to be noticed quicker than in real life!)

Best of luck with your health LT, take care of yourself while you're gone and come back healthy and happy.

My granny goes into panic mode if I miss her nightly call. My parents would take a few days, people I work with would be hammering down the door if I didn't show up or call in sick, and my granddad would be on to the local fuzz to track me down if I miss our Sunday phone in.

So not long at all.

The Young Wan

The Young Wan wrote: »

Say you go completely off radar. No social media, no answering phone calls, completely disappear. How long will it take for someone to notice something is amiss?

Are you ok?

spaghettifier

Under an hour. I often wish people weren't constantly demanding my attention but, no way I could ever go missing lol

The_Valeyard

Ha!
Well played OP.
See which boards users you can pick off for your murderous adventures.

The Young Wan

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Ha!
Well played OP.
See which boards users you can pick off for your murderous adventures.

My secret plan has been uncovered.

mrDerek

A few days for myself, my mate is an online poker player who lives on his own doesnt talk to his neighbours who sometimes doesnt bother replying to txts, it would be a few weeks for him.

Shenshen

If I disappeared from the vitual world (social media, email, etc.) it could be years before anyone would notice.

In real life, a few hours at the max. The husband would be wondering where his tea is if I'm not home around 6, or text him to let him know I'll be late. And work would send someone round to check if I didn't show up and didn't let anyone know.

ongarboy

If it was during work time, I guess pretty quickly as they would contact my next of kin which we have to provide for emergency contacts. If I was on annual leave etc, it could be several days. All my family live in different counties and I don't live with my partner and while we mostly call/text daily, we can sometimes go a couple of days without contact. My contact with friends wouldn't always be on a daily basis either. If you live alone, I do believe you are more vulnerable to going unnoticed.

The saddest stories on the news are those about decomposed bodies found weeks/months after they died because no one noticed or cared that they hadn't been seen in a while.

MilesMorales1

I can go days without speaking to anyone, so quite a while. Maybe a week or so.

mohawk

I don't post anything on Facebook or other social media much anymore. So nobody would notice anything there. I am terrible at remembering to reply to text messages etc. So it would be a couple days for anyone to notice.
At home I can't even go upstairs without my son checking where I am.

TG1

Work would notice, and the other people in the yard would notice my horse wasn't fed so I'd get a few hours max...

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

If I didn't come home this evening he'd notice, now that the football is finished

Shanotheslayer

the evasion_kid wrote: »

About 0.2 seconds judging by the amount of calls I get to help people out or do favours...

I think you need to work on your evasion :P

Agricola

Wind erosion would probably be noticed before me going missing!

Nemesis......

LexieOnRale wrote: »

If I didn't come home this evening he'd notice, now that the football is finished

YFlyer

FortySeven wrote: »

Didn't go to work yesterday and got a garda call to check I was ok after 6 hours.

Look for a raise. You'll know then how much you be missed.

YFlyer

Probably a week to a few weeks. Depending on time of the year.

Glico Man

Work would notice me missing if I am 2 minutes late, and would call my phone every 2 minutes like clockwork until I answer. My housemate didn't notice me missing when I went on holiday for 2 weeks last year, just a "haven't seen you about recently" when I got home. I'm also rarely ever on any social media accounts. So if I have holidays booked from work, could be a while before any search is commenced.

Lyaiera

Didn't show up in the local for about a week and a half before I got a message from the owner. Took another week before a regular texted me.

NikoTopps

I'd say about 5 hours max, if I wasn't in work and nowhere to be seen my boyfriend would definitely be able to tell something was up and do something about it.