With every message delivered in less than a second, communication has become instant; yet people are often expected to reply within a minute.
The word ‘seen’ carries an unexpected weight for many netizens. However, people have discovered a way to avoid this pressure by simply changing a setting in their messaging apps.
2010s, where technology has improved its ability, slowly become diverse. Apple launched a feature in the mainstream of social media, and it was called iMessage in 2011 with the launching of iOS 5. As a result, numerous social media platforms began adding the read receipts feature on their apps, such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and LINE.
ONE SETTING AT A TIME
Today's generation lives in a society where notifications buzzing multiple times, or even some messages can result in being buried due to the constant sending of messages. My phone buzzed from the alarm, I immediately woke up at 6:07am in the morning, I immediately grabbed my phone beside my bed, the screen lit up itself, it was so bright, brighter than the sun, so I reduced the brightness. After I opened my phone, numerous notification began popping up on my eyes. "may practice tayo mamayang hapon" "Hi kamusta ka na?" "Anyone saw my tumbler kahapon in class", I stared at my screen after messages kept appearing seconds by seconds. I felt overwhelmed because I don't know whether if I will reply or simply, ignore it.
While communication has become easier time by time, the weight of expectation of responding to their messages becomes heavier than we thought. The moment we clicked their messages accidentally without thinking about what to say and marked them as "seen," the clock began ticking in the minds of the senders about what to say.
Yet students aren't built like machines that need to respond in a short span of time. Group chats popping up in the chat box with academic discussion or inquiries, reminders from our friends, loved ones, and strangers. When messages began piling up, the overwhelming thought began to ask us that do we really need to respond to them?.
As a result, I decided to begin surfing up to my messenger app and searching for the settings button. After seconds of finding the hidden gem, I found the read receipts button, and I began enabling the app feature. A smile came out from my mouth, which later resulted in reducing my overwhelming feeling from the various notifications streaming from my phone.
This is where read receipts act like a spotlight on silence in a conversation.
But in some situations, I sometimes encounter disadvantages of read receipts. I often forgot to send a message or at least reply to my close relationships, like my family or relatives. It resulted that I did not seen the message even though I clicked their profile picture and read their message. However, in my academic life, whenever there is an urgent announcement from my classmates, I occasionally forgot to answer from their announcement, which later led to unintentionally actions that I made.
PRESSURE BEHIND THE SCREEN
The fact is, technology was created to make our lives easier and to connect people in an efficient way, yet this innovative matter became a pressure. Behind a flickering screen, it reflects a reality where someone might be busy doing their own life, resting, or is a person who just avoids responsibilities.
A study shown on Medium, a United States website that was made for people who enjoy writing and sharing human stories, on November 4, 2016, by James Lynden. He presented a pie chart of the purpose of why people activate their read receipt. It shows that 81.9% are people who avoid opening the messages, while 9.6% avoid opening the app. As the pie chart explains the purpose of read receipts, it was so clear, netizens who use read receipts are easily avoiding the pressure of responding to someone's message since another study from Lynden asked the public to describe what they feel if they did not activate their read receipts function; 36.6% were people who felt pressure to respond, and 29.7% felt guilty when they did not respond.
Turning off read receipts does not mean running away from your responsibilities or ignoring people, but it is prioritizing yourself.
In a small world where every message flows constantly, read receipts will be our modern acknowledger in our digital world. People began reclaiming freedom to respond or not every time when a notification demands a response on their cellphones, but they can respond when they are genuinely ready.
The read receipts might be labeled as the smallest setting, but the word "seen" can become the loudest statement.
Written by Angelo Martin Chavenia, Insight PH
Angelo Martin Chavenia, Insight PH is a dedicated campus journalist and contributor. Their insightful writing sparks meaningful conversations and keeps the community informed.
