In my life, read receipts are always on and are essential.
I like letting people know that "hey I was busy and haven't seen your message" when I haven't opened their message. There's no "Oh, are you ignoring me?" or "Are you ghosting me?" Because you'll always see when I see it, so there's never a question and if I haven't opened it yet, then I'm busy. There's no "I'm sorry I opened this and forget to reply for three days" or there's no "Oh shoot sorry I was busy haha" because other people can text me again and be like "hello?"
Other people don't really share my opinion on read receipts. Some people don't want to be pressured to reply. Maybe you just like to ignore people's messages, and I get it. We always have mental health days when we don't want to reply to anyone. I have them too, days where my body feels so heavy that I can really only complete my work and go back to bed, without talking to anyone.
Though it's a small change in the way you communicate, read receipts are so useful, and you should be using them too for these 5 reasons:
1. They'll know if you haven't read their messages yet.
The most obvious reason, and as I mentioned earlier, people will know that you haven't seen their messages. Whether it's a busy day a school, preparing for finals, a project day at work, or simply that you're busying hanging out with someone else, people will most likely assume that you're too busy to reply right now. You'll just reply whenever you're not busy!
2. You'll feel more secure.
People like feeling secure. When someone doesn't have read receipts on, honestly I get anxious about their messages. I tend to wait for their reply, not knowing if they'll reply in the next 10 seconds, or if they'll reply in the next 10 minutes. This may seem silly to some people, but you know the feeling of messaging a possible date? Well, if your date had read receipts, you'd know if they'd open your message already. The difference between knowing if a cute boy is ignoring your message after they've seen it, or if they just haven't opened it yet can be a huge time saver.
3. You won't forget to reply.
More often than not, because I have read receipts on, my reply times are much faster. I get back to people as soon as I open my messages. Actually, my original reasoning for turning on read receipts in the first place was because I'm a forgetful person. I would open up messages and then get distracted with something else, and then forget to reply to people for hours, even days. But after switching to read receipts, I am more mindful of replying immediately after I've seen the message. Maybe it's the pressure of not wanting them to think I was ignoring them, but I'm way more likely to reply faster when I have read receipts on.
4. It's polite.
Letting people know if you've seen their message is also just respectful. If someone knows you, and they see how fast you opened and replied to their message, they'll appreciate the amount of time you didn't wait to reply to them.
5. You can leave people them on read to make a point if they've angered you.
Now, being petty isn't one of my favorite hobbies. I don't do it often, but leaving someone on read is the absolute perfect response if they're being particularly mean to you. You don't need to say anything in reply, just open their message. It can drive people crazy if you open up all their messages, but not deem it important enough to reply. I wouldn't recommend anyone pull this weapon out often though, only for the very specific and deserving occasions.
So, if the politeness and fast replies don't seem appealing to you, maybe having the perfect comeback will. A "left on read" is the ultimate way to get back at anyone who's trying to pick a fight with you over text.
Follow Swoon on Instagram.
