What's the deal with reading messages without replying?

[Anonymous]

I find it so annoying whenever someone reads my message but doesn't reply... It's just so rude. Like, I recently sent a message to a friend (who left me on "read"). I get the fact that my message didn't really require a reply... but still, I don't think I should have been left on "read". A simple "message reaction" would have been appreciated.

I understand that people are busy sometimes... but my friend saw my message like 2 hours after I sent it... I don't think my friend was so busy at that time. Like, if you don't want to reply at the moment... don't open it! Being left on read can lead to so many misunderstandings. Whenever it happens to me, it just makes me believe that I don't matter to that person or whatever. It just really hurts. I take the time to show that person that I'm thinking about them (by sending them a pic/video/whatever), and I get nothing in return. It's just so rude.

I'm not saying that I never get a reply... like, sometimes, my friend leaves me on read and replies hours later (or sometimes on the next day). But still, it's very annoying. I think I'd prefer to be left on "delivered" for a day than to be left on "read".

To those of you who leave your friends on "read", why are you doing this?

[AmandaYVR]

Just about every person on the planet is now tethered to a phone, and other people expect them to reply when they reach out. You are too young to know a life before this. Hours and days and even longer passed by, often, before people heard back from others, and it was okay. Everyone survived.