You text him. He texts you. You text him. He texts you. Fingers fly across iPhone screens as you communicate for hours. You text him. He texts you. You’re constantly distracted, so you read the same line of your book repeatedly. You text him. Texts are fired one after another. He texts you. And you’re making your neighbors in the library stiff with frustration over your phone’s incessant buzzing. You text him.
But then, no response.
“Oh, it’s cool, he’s probably taking a nap.” Hours pass. “I mean he did say he had a lot of homework…” Each hour that passes results in a new excuse for his absence. He hasn’t responded, so clearly he just hasn’t read it yet.
Enter read receipts.Read receipts are a blessing and a curse. On the one hand they communicate a direct, immediate, unspoken message to whomever it is you’re texting. They serve as an ideal agent when conveying to someone that you’re annoyed, angry, or disinterested. They say, “You’re in the dog house,” and initiate The Silent Treatment without discussion.
However, be weary because read receipts are also notorious for revealing your over-eagerness to reply. If your crush sees you’ve read his message before he has time to exit the conversation screen on his phone, it might make you seem anxious- which is fine! But if you were planning to employ the hard-to-get tactic, I suggest turning off your read receipts to reinstate the mystery.
Who knows? Maybe some people don’t even notice whether or not a person’s read receipts are on. Personally, they can drive me crazy. I think an important thing to keep in mind is that no matter what, you don’t need any person, text, or read receipt to justify your worth. The speed at which someone responds does not validate the amazing qualities you have to offer him or her. What if we turned away from seeking approval in someone else by putting down the phone and not letting someone else’s opinions dictate our thoughts? Trust me, there are more productive things to worry about.
He texts you. You text him. Read: It doesn’t even matter.
