As an iPhone user I was faced with one of the most difficult decisions of my life; was I going to turn on read receipts for iMessaging? The decision took some serious time and energy. I weighed the pros and cons of each possible situation and after strenuous seconds of mind straining situational analysis, I had reached a conclusion. I then held a press conference and announced that I would be taking my text messages to the next level and refrain from using read receipts.

The decision, however trivial, does warrant some attention as it plagues so many millenials. In my limited experience, I have found that most high schoolers opt to have their read receipts on. For anyone over the age of 35 who is reading this and is confused, read receipts are when the other conversationalist is notified when you have read their message. Back to the topic at hand, why do so many teens prefer read receipts? The common belief is that it prevents people from forgetting to text back and lets the text recipient know if you have seen their message. An additional argument is made that if you are trying to send someone a message that you don’t want to talk to them, you can simply “leave them on read.”  Another perk of read receipts is that if you never open up your messages and have 50 notifications you look super cool and popular.

I will now attempt to debunk each one of the previously stated arguments as well as provide some insight as to why I prefer to not have my read receipts on. The thought that read receipts eradicate forgetfulness is silly. Texts first show up as notifications where they can be viewed without notifying the sender. After skimming the text in notifications, the recipient decides to either reply or save their response for a later time. Often times this leads to texts falling further down the recipient’s inbox where they are many times forgotten. The ability to view messages without notifying the sender via notifications is literally the exact same as just turning your read receipts off and viewing the message directly in iMessage. Oh you didn’t see my message? Well you posted a picture on the gram, tweeted and posted a snap story so you were obviously on your phone. The above situation seems to happen frequently with people who have their read receipts on and makes the whole system of read receipts seem counter intuitive. All of the above are non issues when read receipts are turned off. As far as sending messages via “leaving people on read”… really? I would suggest just using your words instead of trying to play mind games.

I find that turning my read receipts off is especially beneficial when dealing with sensitive topics. Sensitive topics require thoughtful responses and generally those take more time to draft. Having time to compose an appropriate response without making the sender feel ignored (potentially stirring further emotions) is appreciated. Additionally if you are trying to ignore a text from the ‘rents, turning read receipts off makes it easier to “not see the message”… but of course I would never do that Mom.

There are specific situations that may warrant the use of read receipts but in general I believe they are not beneficial and encourage poor communication habits. Is this article largely sarcastic, yes. However, I do believe this small dispute can perhaps illuminate the larger shift in millennial communication. There has been a shift away from face to face interaction and phone calls to texting and playing “games.” Read receipts are just small piece in the larger puzzle of twenty first century communication.