In our day and age, iPhones are most prominent among our peers. Along with the benefits an iPhone provides, there are also a few looming, evil entities that exist on our networking devices – the iMessage typing indicator bubble, read receipts, and autocorrect. These inventions may seem like a wonderful privilege when you first get an iPhone, but can quickly cause anxiety, generate impatience, and provide confusion.

Let's take a quick look at how these evil inventions have caused trouble in my life, with real-life screenshots from the person I undoubtedly text more than anyone else – my older brother, Matt.

The typing indicator bubble can physically slow down time. We all know exactly what it looks like, the ellipsis that's displayed while someone is busy replying to you. This seemingly harmless bubble will keep you staring at your phone, waiting for a response, especially when you need one quickly. Here is a real-life example:

As you can see, I sent him the urgent grocery store message 4 minutes ago, and he is still typing. Minutes turn into hours. My eyes become dry from staring at my tiny LED screen. I am blocking the milk refrigerator at the grocery store and angering elderly shoppers. I can feel the eyes of judgmental employees, staring me down as I awkwardly wait in the aisle. What is taking so long? Is he sending me a complete grocery list? Is his phone unlocked in his pocket, accidentally typing away on its own? I might mess up his message if I send another in an attempt to get a quicker answer. What is this torturous world I am living in?

Thanks a lot, typing indicator bubble. Because of you, I have now stood in the milk aisle for nearly 10 minutes, and lost my spot in the express lane.

The "read receipts" show you who your real friends are. The only reason I have these devilish little bothers turned on is because I don't want others to think I'm weak. But, to cope with the fear of reading a text and not knowing how to respond to it, I have adapted to reading most of my iMessages in the drop-down menu before actually replying to them. This is also because I don't want to seem too eager by reading a message within a minute of it being sent. It's all about making people think you have a life.

On the other hand, other people's read receipts can easily wreck your life in a way you'd never imagine. Sending an incessant amount of texts, all of them being read, and receiving no response in return can open up a vast amount of possibilities and send your anxiety through the roof.

For example, there is no fear on this Earth similar to your older brother being angry with you. Had the read receipts not been there, I probably would've been able to put my phone away for a few minutes and forget all about the burrito crime I had committed the night before. But since I can see he is continuously reading my messages, I physically cannot make myself look away. Is he ignoring me on purpose? He must be really angry to not care so much as to reply to my desperate cries for help. Or maybe his phone is sitting on the counter, unlocked. Either way, both my heart rate and anxiety levels have increased, thanks to these small words on iMessage.

iMessage's most nefarious ally is without a doubt the auto-correct feature. While both the typing indicator bubble and read receipts have only been around recently, autocorrect has indeed always been there to turn a conversation awkward in virtually no time at all. From the inappropriate to the confusing to the just plain uncomfortable, it has never let us down. Sometimes, it can ruin your credibility in a heated text argument, when you read over your messages and realize auto-correct has sabotaged you. Other times, it will simply confuse a casual conversation.

Of course I would never confuse my breakfast accommodations with my favorite elderly role models, but that's just the way that autocorrect rolls.

Don't get me wrong - iMessage is a glorious app, and many of us young adults would be unaware of how to live our lives without it. The typing indicator bubble, read receipts, and autocorrect can easily change the mood of a conversation and make for some pretty good laughs, too. Maybe next time you let these inventions get the best of you, you can turn that anxiety into a funny memory.