My iMessage read receipts are always on.

Do I sometimes see a message on my Iphone’s screen and don’t open it immediately to prevent the sender from seeing that I read the message? Yes. But only sometimes.

My everyday life is complicated. I have to manage my large family and often I’m failing at that task. I try to help my other relatives (and often fail at that too). Professionally I’m involved in multiple projects and jobs. My chores and responsibilities count in dozens. They are high frequency. I have a long list of unresolved issues. I struggle with many and I also procrastinate. For every chore, for every “project” — of a personal nature, or related to my work — there are several “stakeholders”. This business jargon means that there are dozens of people calling or texting me on my iPhone and a handful of other messengers and devices.

Wherever I can set my read receipts on, I do that.

Why? Because I think it’s a mature thing to do. It’s not an indication of me being ready to react or act, but I am absolutely fine signaling to the senders: I got your message. “I hear you”. Even if you are reaching out to me with something that’s momentarily unpleasant for me or maybe even unresolvable, I hear you.

Here’s another angle: I certainly want my family members to see my read receipts. If there is no urgency or I’m busy, I don’t immediately reply but the receipt lets me say got it, my dear. So if I’m like that with my family, it’s difficult, if not impossible from a technical angle, to treat others differently.