My long distance bf (30M, Austrian) will not send me (27F, American) consistent good morning messages, despite me honestly communicating my need for this.

TLDR; long distance bf doesn’t want to text me good morning and says he is too busy, despite being hours ahead of me. For context, he is located 6 hours ahead of me. So whenever I go to sleep each night, I send him a sweet good night / good morning text for him to see in the morning when he starts his day. Often times, whenever I wake the next morning, I have no text back from him yet. I typically wake up around 8 am my time, which means it is already 2 pm his time.

This baffles me. I have communicated with him in a grounded conversation, requesting that he send me a message that I can see when I wake up in the mornings. I have even said “it can be just an emoji.. or something really short”. I have clarified that he doesn’t need to respond to any of the other texts I sent him, he can just send a quick acknowledgement. An I love you or a good morning would be perfect! I want to see his name on my phone and that he has at least thought of me once that day. It feels kinda shitty knowing its 3 or 4 pm and he hasn't taken a second out of his day to acknowledge me. I would feel differently, but I know he’s on his phone.

He has a high stress job (not emotional stress, but he is high up in his company) and claims that some days he is “too busy” to send a text before x time. I am not trying to be that girl… but.. wake up 30 seconds earlier than usual and text me then? How is it physically possible you “don’t have the time” to send me an emoji heart? I know he has his phone with him the moment he wakes up, on his commute, at his desk, etc.

It really bugs me because it feels like he doesn’t care about my needs in this way. We are long distance right now. I have even clarified that this is something I need to feel secure while we are apart. Whenever we live together (in the next 9 months), this is not something that will even be a problem. But after another conversation today, he told me he would “do it most mornings, but not all.”

To me, that feels like a power trip. Just refusing to acknowledge my long distance needs. We have a call each day and some days talk much longer, which is nice. I feel bad because we have been on and off arguing about this. Like we had many good calls this week, but then today he didn’t message me anything until 1 pm my time… after we spent all last week arguing about my need for better communication during the day. To clarify: I am NOT asking him to have a full blown text convo throughout the day by any means…

I send him a goodnight text EVERY night without fail, because I know he likes it and I want him to feel loved. I would like him to see this is important to me.

I feel I should not send my goodnight text to show him it feels shitty (I don't really want to do this, I am not the petty type, but I don’t want to chase his affection).

All of this to say, outside of this communication problem and a few others, he is a great boyfriend and we have a really good time when we are together. He is sweet and thoughtful in many ways, this is just one specific problem that I guess I am nitpicking. I am worried I am being too sensitive about this, but something about him refusing to send me a simple message to make me feel special rubs me the wrong way.

Any advice from men or women is appreciated!