Turn Off Read Receipts if They Give You Anxiety

Read receipts turn messaging into a surveillance tool. You see that someone read your message two hours ago and has not replied, and your brain fills in the worst explanation. They are ignoring you. They do not care. They are angry. In reality, they probably read it while busy, planned to respond later, and forgot — which is perfectly normal human behavior.

If read receipts cause you stress — either seeing others' or knowing they can see yours — turn them off. You lose a small piece of information and gain a significant reduction in social anxiety. Respond when you are ready, and let others do the same without the pressure of a visible timestamp.