Is He Ghosting or Just Busy After Three Days of Silence?

Scroll back through the last five or six exchanges and look at the shape of them. Did he ask you questions and remember things you said? Did he suggest a time to meet, or a specific thing to do? Those are signs of effort, and a three-day gap after that usually has a boring explanation. If instead the messages had been getting shorter, his replies came hours later each time, and the conversation kept dying at the question you asked, then the silence is more likely a fade.

Also check whether he's been active elsewhere. If his profile is still changing, he's posting, or he's replying to other people, he isn't offline. That doesn't tell you he's into you, but it does mean he's reachable, so you can read the non-response as a choice rather than a gap in his life.

Don't build a theory from one data point. Three days is short enough that a busy week can explain it, and long enough that it stings. Let the pattern decide, not the number.

A good reply here does three things. First, it shows you're fine without him, so the silence doesn't become the center of the conversation. That means your message should be about something real in your day, not a pointed question about where he went. Second, it leaves him an easy way back in. A question he can answer in one word, or a small thing he can react to, works better than a big question that needs thought. Third, it doesn't apologize for reaching out or explain why you're reaching out.

Avoid anything that reopens the question of whether he's ghosting. Asking if he's okay, joking about being left on read, or mentioning how long it's been all put the silence on the table. Bring up the earlier thread only if it's relevant to something new you actually want to say.

If you have a plan of your own, mention it lightly. If he's interested, a plan that doesn't depend on him gives him something to join. If he isn't, you lose nothing by having kept your evening full.

Send one message, then wait long enough that it doesn't look like a follow-up. Within a day or so is fine if the conversation was active before the gap. If you're only one message in after a silence, a full day is a reasonable minimum, and two days is still normal. Send during the daytime or early evening in his time zone, not late at night, because a late message reads as either lonely or pushy.

If he doesn't answer, don't send a second for at least several days, and then only if something new has actually happened in your life worth sharing. A second message that just checks in is where it starts to look like chasing. If he replies warmly, pick the conversation back up at the same energy he gave, not more.

Stop when there's been no reply to your message and no change in his activity after about a week or two. At that point the silence has answered the question. You don't need closure from him to move on, and you shouldn't keep sending messages to get it.