How quickly and frequently do you need a response?

I’m thinking about this with email in mind, but it can apply to anything, really (snail mail, email, text messages, phone calls, etc). I tend to write a lot (duh) and in addition to what I write here, I correspond with a dozen or so other correspondents—both family and friends. Depending on the closeness of the relationship, I want a reply within an hour or whenever. I rarely have correspondents who reply as faithfully as I would like. In fact, I only have one.

In addition, there is a quality component. I like the correspondence to be of somewhat similar effort as what I put into mine. If things are regularly not equal, I tend to interpret that as a sign that I like that person more than they like me. If the correspondent does not have time for a thoughtful response, I feel that they can at least reply with a one liner if they don’t have time for more.

I tend to get grumpy and uneasy if someone doesn’t reply within my window of expectation. For some people, that window is within a few hours. For others, it could be a few days or even a week.

Do you have any windows of expected response? If so, what are they? What do you feel if someone does not reply in that window? Any examples?