I think it’s fair to say that the inclusion of Instagram Direct goes well in most cases. There’s one aspect that doesn’t seem to be going that well, it’s read receipts. Do a search on the subject or browse your favorite news site and you’ll see all sorts of opinions on these receipts, mostly negative. So why do Instagram Direct Messages have read receipts?
Both Instagram and Facebook have read receipts for messages. I think this kind of thing is everything that is wrong with social media right now. I’m sure in the ivory towers of Silicon Valley, where social networks still think they’re a force for good, it’s good to add the ability for the person sending a message to know if the message was delivered and then read. As always, without thinking about the big picture.
Problem with read receipts
Instagram Direct Saw, Facebook Messenger has a small profile picture when read, Snapchat arrow changes color, WhatApp and Twitter have little tick marks, the list goes on. All this so that the sender knows when his message was delivered and you are notified as soon as you open it to read it.
Great in theory, but not so much in practice. Things get weird when you send a message and it remains in the Visible unanswered status. Few of us think that this person is working with his family, doing something more interesting than checking social media, doing many of the things we do every day at the hospital or when there are no phones.
Instead, we imagine what we might have done to piss them off. What could we say to get them to ignore us for three minutes since our message changed to Seen. We imagine what we did to get them to get angry with us or willingly ignore us.
If you’re the buyer, the pressure is on you. After reading the message, you know the countdown has begun. Clock is ticking to respond before the above starts to happen. ‘Are you okay’, ‘What did I say?’ or ‘Why do you hate me so much?’
Social media has given us a lot, but it has also taken a lot from us. It took away our privacy, our downtime, our quiet moments, and our ability to do our own business in our own time. It is assumed that we will always be available and always somewhere to respond to every message, no matter what happens in our lives.
Turn off read receipts
Some social networks, such as WhatsApp and Twitter, allow you to disable read receipts. In theory this avoids all the social worries of having them. But it is not. Instead, it’s assumed that you have something to hide or that you’re deliberately messing with people by not letting them know they’ve been heard.
This admittedly limited survey or read receipts on Medium gives a good idea of how read receipts affect people. The survey showed that 35% of senders were ignored when they saw a read receipt, but did not receive an immediate response, while around 14% said they were concerned. 36.6% of those who received the message said they felt under pressure to reply.
While the survey is far from scientific, it shows how read receipts ruin what should have been a pleasant communication between friends.
Avoid read receipts for Instagram Direct
Since this article refers to Instagram Direct, let’s focus on that. The bad news is, there is currently no way to officially turn off read receipts. Zuckerberg and others still think they’re a good idea and won’t let us give up. He said that this is 21Saint century and there is always a way to get what you want.
Here’s how to avoid sending read receipts in Instagram Direct.
- Do not open DM when it arrives.
- Turn on Airplane Mode on your phone.
- Open and read the message.
- Turn off Instagram completely from your phone.
- Turn off Airplane Mode.
- Do not open Instagram until you reply.
It’s a workaround but it works. It’s a bit of a cumbersome solution, and when you open the message to read it, you’ll have to close Instagram completely until you’re ready to reply to the message.
Read receipts are a force for evil and should be avoided wherever possible. They make a lot of sense as paper exercises, but like many paper exercises, they fail completely when human nature gets their hands on them.
What is your opinion on read receipts? Like them? Do you hate them? Tell us below!
