Exploring The Psychology of Read Receipts — Are They Ever Okay?
What the experts say in the debate about peace of mind vs. mental stressor
Studies have shown the negative effects of read receipts on traditional messaging platforms, and many of these arguments can be applied to email.
As read receipts — particularly those involving tracking pixels — continue to be used far and wide, Edison Mail works to make sure they don’t make their way into your inbox.
Read receipts were in the news again recently because of a peculiar exchange between a man named Eric Dimitratos and his date, when the date unexpectedly requested that Dimitratos turn on his read receipts for their exchanged messages. The request seemed ridiculous to most who read it — after all who asks that someone they just met turn on read receipts just for them? This example highlights the strangeness of using read receipts over a platform like iMessage, and brings to mind similar reactions that have been associated with read receipts requested via email.
Now there are a few differences between read receipts on messaging platforms and email read receipts. With read receipts on messaging platforms, excluding Facebook Messenger, you’re generally able to turn the feature off with a simple toggle in the settings menu. As for email read receipts, in the old days, you as the receiver would receive a pop-up requesting that you send back confirmation that you’d opened an email. While this form of read receipts still exists, it’s become less popular due to the proliferation of secret tracking pixels in both marketing and personal emails. We’ll discuss these pixels more later on.
Read receipts as a concept are a divisive topic — a 2017 study on read receipt usage showed that around 55% of Millennials and teens use read receipts on their phones, showing the people are split on the issue. But regardless of who you are, you probably have an opinion on read receipts. There are those who love read receipts because they enjoy the peace of mind from being able to see when people have read their messages. Then there are those who hate read receipts — seeing them as stressful, invasive, and perhaps passive aggressive. The psychology behind read receipts, however, is squarely on the side of people who hate them.
One behavioral scientist noted in an interview that the use of read receipts often leads to feelings of rejection because, “When you see the instantaneous acknowledgment that a message has been received, it triggers your assumption that someone should respond just as quickly.”
There are many reasons why an individual might not be able to respond to you right when they open a message, whether that’s because they’re busy at the moment, need time to collect their thoughts before responding, or are simply not in the mood to respond right then. But all the message sender sees is somebody who read their message and chose not to respond.
Additionally, those who receive the message often feel an undue sense of pressure when there are read receipts. As one researcher who studies human-computer interaction said in an interview, “People freak out about read receipts in general because there’s a social pressure. They feel like they have to respond immediately.”
While messaging platforms are the primary focus of research, a lot of those same emotions are experienced when there are read receipts requested for email communication. There’s nothing quite like feeling the pressure to respond to an email because you’ve sent an alert to the sender that you’ve read it, or the disappointment of the sender when someone hasn’t immediately responded to their email.
However, worse than read receipt requests are embedded tracking pixels within the emails themselves. These pixels are placed in the email without the receiver’s knowledge, and like digital spies, they alert the sender when you open their email, and in some cases even tell the sender your physical location.
These types of pixels, particularly in marketing emails are unnervingly common. A 2017 study from One More Company showed that among the conversational emails sent, 16% of them were tracked, and among the emails received that were “either newsletters, marketing materials, transactional or notifications in nature”, an insane 99% of them had tracking pixels. This isn’t great news for most Americans. A 2015 study from the Pew Research Center showed that, “93% of adults say that being in control of who can get information about them is important,” and that 90% of adults say it’s important for them to control what information is being collected about them.
Tracking pixels can also lead to feelings of hurt or betrayal when you realize that your business acquaintance utilizes them to keep an eye on you. The feeling when you realize that someone you trust has been digitally stalking you isn’t a pleasant one, especially due to the secrecy with which it’s done.
Once upon a time you knew someone’s email to you had read receipts because you would have to approve them being sent. Now, you don’t know that the email you’re opening has a tracking pixel in it. There’s no marker anywhere that shows that your actions are being watched. In our previous post on the subject, we touch on the issue of read receipts being only a minor symptom of a much larger systemic problem that mankind faces today, in an unprecedented internet-driven era — that of advertising-based businesses constantly vying for your attention.
Whether or not you’re okay with read receipts, being able to block them should always be an option, just as it’s an option to turn on or off your read receipts on most messaging platforms. Your email inbox should be one of the places where you can open, read, and decide for yourself when or if you want to respond without an extra set of eyes on the email. You’re followed online all the time by swarms of targeted ads, and other prying eyes — shouldn’t you be able to read and respond to emails at your own pace without people knowing exactly when you’re opening them?
While the tides are gradually turning away from read receipts, they are still here to stay for the time being. Our Edison Mail team has always been against this form of tracking that feels like stalking, which is why we have blocked read receipts in the app automatically since its 2016 release. If you’re not a fan of surreptitious read receipts, try out the Edison Mail app on iOS and Android. because until read receipts are no more, we can make sure to block them for you.
Download the Edison Mail App Today
Learn more about how you can use Edison Mail for iOS, Mac, and Android to their fullest potential. Reduce spam, and access your favorite email services like Gmail, Yahoo, Microsoft Exchange, Comcast, and more in a clean unified inbox.
