"Read Receipts Off" By Aditya Singh

There was a time when no modern means of communication existed. People had to travel for months, sometimes even years, just to deliver a message from one place to another. Communication was slow, yet sincere. Every word carried value because it took effort to reach someone. But look at us now in an age where messages travel faster than thought, where the sender and receiver are just a “send” away we are deliberately delaying our responses.

Why? To appear busy? To seem important or intellectual? I don’t know. But it’s strange.

Today, everyone carries a mobile phone everywhere even to their bathrooms yet people take hours, sometimes days, to reply to a simple message. It has become a kind of social game. We ignore messages, that’s understandable. But what about messages related to our work or responsibilities? Why do we delay those too?

And the irony is when someone replies immediately, we often think, “He must not have any work.” Since when did being responsive become a sign of idleness? Why has basic courtesy turned into a matter of ego or status?

We wake up with our phones beside us, constantly checking notifications, scrolling endlessly yet we “don’t find time” to reply. The truth is, it’s not about time anymore. It’s about attitude. We have turned instant communication into psychological warfare a subtle way of showing disinterest, dominance, or detachment.

Decades of innovation and human effort went into making communication easy and fast. But instead of connecting hearts and minds, it feels like we are drifting farther apart. The tools meant to bring us closer are now being used to create distance.

Maybe it’s time we stop playing these games and start responding not just with our fingers, but with a little bit of honesty too.