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⬅️ Previous capture (2023-01-29)
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All commercial programs are filled with anti-features to make them more addictive, which is nothing new under the Sun. I want to focus on the most popular "features" of instant-messaging programs.
The typing indicators are present in almost every instant messaging program today, be it commercial or not. From dots that move around when someone's typing to their name being shown, they're being hailed as an important feature of today's messaging experience.
Typing indicators only serve one purpose, that is to induce anxiety. When you're texting you're under the pressure of doing it as fast as possible because the other person is "seeing" that you're typing, whilst the receiver is under the anxiety of what you'll say or if you stop composing what does that mean, and the list can go on. What surprises me is this facilitated an expectancy of writing continuously without interruption, any moment of thinking being frowned upon. This can be clearly seen in the phenomenon of "impulsive texting", often resulting in the receiver getting offended or just being an overall emotional dumpster. At the other end of the spectrum, there's the edit-your-message-all-the-time person, where they cannot stand not revising what they say in order to seem "perfect" which is obviously impossible.
Read markers are by far one of the worst anxiety inducing "features" of modern instant messengers. This has facilitated the "seen culture" where you're pressured to respond "in time" otherwise you're considered impolite or that you're ignoring the other party. In multiple cases, people consider you rude if you don't answer in minutes or even tens of seconds to them. Read markers fostered this culture, but worse it has created an expectancy of being always available and always connected.
Being always-on has had damaging effects across every level of our society, from work to friendships. You're now permanently at work because of messaging and e-mails, and you're supposed to always be there for your friends, which was impossible before. Obviously, being there for people and caring etc., is a good thing, but being always there for them isn't good for anyone's psychological state. We all need time to be disconnected and with ourselves.
We should oppose the implementation of features in our messaging programs. Sadly, even programs backed by non-profits, such as Signal, have implemented anti-features and begs you for your notifications to be turned on. I get the idea that it should cater to the masses to foster adoption, but is it worth the psychological damage and the anxiety that comes with it? I personally mainly use IRC, it was never invented to be something commercial, nor were these "features" even thought of back then, and it's a great experience. You can answer whenever you want, there's no pressure. Some IMs allow you to disable read markers and typing indicators, but that doesn't stop them from nagging you with a plethora of other psychological tricks to keep you using their program.
Personally, I think texting should be minimized and only be used in emergency situations with people you know in real life, not resorting to it because it's more comfortable than talking face-to-face, as many do today. It's ridiculous to sit at the same table and text instead of talk. All in all, a healthy way of using technology must be internalized, in order to not fall into the trap of petty psychological warfare from corporations.