What do you make of people disabling blue ticks on WhatsApp?

[fnb]

What makes people go into the settings to specifically disable this feature?

I assume the person enjoys playing mind games and has a few issues. It's a red flag for me.

I don't do it and also don't check unless I'm arranging something urgent or making changes to urgent plans - like I'm stuck in traffic or my bus hasn't turned up. Or somebody else is late - I might want to say that i'm going into the theatre or cinema and will see them in there, it's useful to know if they've seen that.

I’ve always been curious what the function of having them on is. As WhatsApp has evolved and allowed for more privacy, I’ve gradually turned more features off.
I can see the benefit in a professional context, but that’s what email read receipts are for. In a personal context, I’m not sure I see the purpose?
Genuine question.

Because technology has such a hold on us already. We are expected to be connected in every way, 24/7- school apps, social apps, always blabbering our "status" and thoughts all over the place, "sharing" and the like. Constant notifications! Give me strength.

I'm private in my real life, I don't need to do any of that stuff unless I choose to sit down and take time (eg on here or to catch up with friends, we send long messages so it isn't a quick thing usually).

So to ask the reverse, why would I have the blue ticks on? A robot device needling me to reply when it isn't my priority? We've already ceded so much control to big tech, it doesn't hurt to put healthier parameters on who can access our peace. The only people with true free access through my phone and to my time are my kids, and anything related to them/school in case of emergency.

I can see blue ticks purely so i know when the kids have read my messages to them but have last online and all that turned off. My ex had a sneakier way of turning the phone to airplane mode to read my messages when he was annoyed with me and giving me the silent treatment thinking i didnt know that you can click and find out if something has been read even if the ticks are off. He was a passive agressive prick anyway though.

So chilled you’ve started a post to interrogate others about it 🙃

Interrogated? 🤣

I don't want my ex or my mum keeping tabs on me.

Leaving it on only leads to my mum demanding to know why I was on my phone at 3:47pm when I was meant to be at work, or why I was awake at 3:47am and who was I messaging at that time at night.

Ex would be making judgements- either I'm not on much so I must be lonely and friendless because no one's messaging, or I'm on my phone too much and clearly have no life.

I do it for this exact reason

Why are people so bothered about how others have their phones set up? Mind games and red flags? Jesus! We coped years ago using text messages and you had no idea if it had been read or not (texts are still like that on my phone).

What do you make of people who do this? Why does it bother you so much to start a thread about it?

Mine have been disabled for years. I like my privacy, and hate being nagged for responses to messages.

Well, yes? Why does it bother you so much what others do? I couldn’t give a fuck if someone has theirs on (can’t see them anyway 😂).

Get a new hobby OP 😂

I was musing.

Most of MN is based on people doing this.

I think they want to appear too busy or superior in life than the rest of us. If I read something and don’t reply straight away it doesn’t mean I’m rude it just means my response needs to be meaningful than an immediate reaction and people who know me know this. Otherwise I do an emoji reaction heart /thumbs up/ laughing face or whatever’s if it’s a quick communicate.

I have it disabled. I use my phone for both personal use and work and I don’t want to be hassled by my clients when they see I’ve read a message and not replied because quite often I don’t have time.

You can still see if you swipe though? It says read.

I just assume they’ve been in situations where they’ve encountered pressure to reply - whether from staff/work or just from persistent family members.

I didn't know this was a thing. The last seen is good for knowing my mother is still alive ;) And it used to reassure me when ds was at university too.

If you send someone a message and then go to edit the message, if the person has read it you can no longer edit it. This is true even if they have the ticks turned off. So if you are super anxious and paranoid now you know ....

I disable mine so I do t have to reply straight away. I get really annoyed if I get told I’m leaving people on read. Why do I have to reply straight away??

Sh

Try it! It's very liberating.

Someone I knew turned off read receipts when he started harvesting women to use and couldn’t deal with all of them contacting him and asking where he was and why he had been on line and not replied.

repulsive man he became

Constant ads on MN mean the screen jumps and I hit send when I’d barely started to type.

I was going to point out someone with ticks disabled can’t tell if another person still has them on or not so how can you be judging?

I have it disabled but can still see other people's blue ticks.