I hate being left on READ #RANT
We’ve all been there. You send a funny meme. Ask a question. Send a photo. Then silence… But you SEE that it’s been “read” or “seen.”
I don’t know about you but to quote our queen Briteny Spears, it “drives me crazy.”
Now I might be overly dramatic but when I see the “seen” or “read” below my message and do not hear back it’s like a slap in the face.
A stab in the gut.
The feeling you had when you heard Trump was elected president. You sit there wondering, did I do something wrong? Do they hate me? They probably hate me. Maybe they were offended. I can go on. Sometimes during work, I sit at my desk twiddling my fingers waiting for a response like a kid excited to show their confusing drawing to their mom.
Alright, alright. So I might take this all too personally. But hear me out! The quarantine has been hard on everyone and I think the “being left on read” situation started to become more of a conundrum than it was before. We all feel lonely. We might live with our partner, family, friends, or that stranger you found on Craigslist that was looking for a roommate. But despite your thriving support systems, you can still feel lonely at times.
I’m like, “Oh my god I can’t WAIT to show this video.” I wait till the morning when they’re awake and hit send. Two minutes pass. Nothing. Whatever, some folks aren’t quick responders like me. An hour passes. They’re probably hanging out with friends. Several hours pass. They’re probably in a medically induced coma. Maybe it falls on me to update their family, now. They probably got hit by a bus at the exact moment they saw my message. Does that make their bloody death my fault? I know they saw the message.
And
it
drives
me
CRAZY.
Like, come on, man! At least use the REACT/LIKE button or like a 1 or 2 worded response (which I despise but it’s better than nothing).
Think about it in real-world terms. You walk up to this person happy as a clam, show them a photo and they just look at it, stone-faced, and walk away. LITERALLY, THAT’S HOW IT FEELS TO BE LEFT ON READ! And I should know, my mother does that to me every time.
Oh oh oh! And then you see them on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook (just kidding, no one uses Facebook) and you’re like, “What the hell !” So then it makes you go into a spiral. And yes, feel a bit lonely.
Yes, I’ve been guilty of this. Actually, I was, at one point, infamous for this. And for the most part, it was just me thinking, “heh…that’s funny.” But I realized others felt like they were losing a connection and because of that not only did they feel isolated I too later on felt isolated when I wouldn’t continue a conversation.
And I know, I know. “Erica, you have great eyebrows but you’re thinking too hard about this.” First off, thank you.
Secondly, I might be! But ya gotta understand this quarantine has made us yearn for some connection and to hear no response can make you feel alone and lost.
Well, what I’m trying to say is: Dad, please stop leaving me on read. It makes me really sad.