Is choosing not to respond to texts, emails and other digital messages rude?
Or is it sometimes necessary? Have you ever gotten so overwhelmed by texts, emails, direct messages on social media and chatter in Discord servers and group chats that you just … stopped responding? When do you think it is OK to ignore texts and other forms of online communication? When do you think it is rude to do so? Is it ever acceptable to “ghost” someone on purpose? Do you ever ignore text messages, emails or other forms of digital communication? Why or why not? If so, do you ever worry about being rude by not responding?
What factors do you take into account when deciding how quickly to respond to a message? Do certain people or topics elicit a prompt response? Why do you think that is?
Mr. Newport suggests that some people may find it harder to respond to messages when they are overburdened or stressed. Has this been your experience? Are there any other conditions in which you struggle to return messages?
How quickly do you expect others to respond to your messages? How do you feel when someone else ignores a text from you?
Do you believe that “ghosting” is “a deadly sin of digital communications,” as Ms. Dhawan writes? Have you ever been ghosted, or ghosted someone else? Why do you think ghosting happens? Do you think our societal expectations for responding to digital messages are appropriate? Or do you agree with Ms. Dhawan that we should “let go of the outdated, demanding requirement to participate in ceaseless back-and-forth conversations”? I’ve been doing this since high school, its a mixture of forgetting to respond and trying to formulate responses gives me a lot of anxiety and takes a long time per message so I eventually just give up. In the end I’ve ghosted everyone from high school and the friends I’ve made since and I am now afraid of making new friends because of the thought of having to maintain text convos. I just don’t know if this is an adhd thing or what. This view is in general but even more so for message apps that show the other person that you've read their message like iMessage or Facebook Messenger. I feel like reading a message is disrespectful and rude. You're basically sending the other person a message of "yes, I read your message but no I will not reply to it". If someone calls you and you pick up, are you just going to ignore what they're saying and hang up? No. if you didn't want to talk, you wouldn't pick up the phone. Yet somehow this behaviour is fine online. Are you a person who's taking days to reply to a text? If so, why do you do this?
What factors do you take into account when deciding how quickly to respond to a message? Do certain people or topics elicit a prompt response? Why do you think that is?
Mr. Newport suggests that some people may find it harder to respond to messages when they are overburdened or stressed. Has this been your experience? Are there any other conditions in which you struggle to return messages?
How quickly do you expect others to respond to your messages? How do you feel when someone else ignores a text from you?
Do you believe that “ghosting” is “a deadly sin of digital communications,” as Ms. Dhawan writes? Have you ever been ghosted, or ghosted someone else? Why do you think ghosting happens? Do you think our societal expectations for responding to digital messages are appropriate? Or do you agree with Ms. Dhawan that we should “let go of the outdated, demanding requirement to participate in ceaseless back-and-forth conversations”? I’ve been doing this since high school, its a mixture of forgetting to respond and trying to formulate responses gives me a lot of anxiety and takes a long time per message so I eventually just give up. In the end I’ve ghosted everyone from high school and the friends I’ve made since and I am now afraid of making new friends because of the thought of having to maintain text convos. I just don’t know if this is an adhd thing or what. This view is in general but even more so for message apps that show the other person that you've read their message like iMessage or Facebook Messenger. I feel like reading a message is disrespectful and rude. You're basically sending the other person a message of "yes, I read your message but no I will not reply to it". If someone calls you and you pick up, are you just going to ignore what they're saying and hang up? No. if you didn't want to talk, you wouldn't pick up the phone. Yet somehow this behaviour is fine online. Are you a person who's taking days to reply to a text? If so, why do you do this?
