The appearance of “seen” has created a new phenomenon: opening messages partially, having a peek at the beginning of the message and assuming the rest so that the other person doesn’t get a “seen”. Also when writing a message, be aware of how your first sentence begins, because this is what the other person will be halfseening.
When “seen” first appeared, some thought they would have to answer messages immediately. However it didn’t make the culture of answering change, it only made visible what we already knew: we don’t always reply straight away. While it became more and more acceptable not to reply immediately, the technique of halfseening is commonly used.
For those who don’t find the beginning of the message to be enough, but still don’t like to reply straight away, you may benefit from 'seen' blocking apps.
From the Dictionary of Online Behavior; a project by NNN members TeYosh. Over the next few weeks, we will weekly publish a new word that describes behavior that has emerged on social networks and has changed our way of communication.
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