The Facebook "Seen" message gives me a lot of anxiety! When I see that the person has "seen" the message, but does not reply, I start thinking about all the possible reasons why they would 'ignore' me... Does anyone else feel this? If so, how do you cope?

I totally understand that feeling! This literally happened to me yesterday. It is so hard because you see that they "saw" the message and you become over-anxious and second guess everything. This is something I have struggled with and still sometimes do. Once again...yesterday. An important thing that I like to remind myself is that Facebook (and any site that has this feature) is really wishy-washy with how they measure "seen" messages. For example: if they are using a laptop and have the chat pulled up, it automatically marks the message as seen and does not give a notification. So if they are scrolling and didn't see the message, but the chat is open, according to those sites, they have "seen" the message. If they are using a phone and accidentally open the bubble or clear the notification, it will also show as "seen". So when I see that my friend has "seen" my message but hasn't responded, I try to remind myself that maybe they haven't or cannot respond at the moment. I think back on how they have responded to me in the past so they have a pretty good reputation so far. Another thing I do sometimes I pretend that it is not me having this problem, but a friend of mine and I am trying to help the feel better. I tell myself the same things I would tell them.

Yeah! Everyone sometimes or other faces this situation, not only on Facebook messages but also missed calls sometimes feels havocking when not called back. But it is normal to overthink the situation, mostly when the second person is too close to us. Now, moving up to the fact! Actually thinking why the message remained just seen and not replied will come up with a lot of scenarios, some positive and some negative too. But again there is a point to note that all of them cannot be true. There must have been any one condition because of which the second person didn't replied to the text. Also it is not necessary that we can think of the same situation and comprehend it exactly in our brain. So the best option out here is taking a break. Yeah surely it is hard, because our mind can't take up any kind of suspense. But that is best time to practice the power of patience. Try doing something else, which for a while distracts you from the situation. Try not thinking about the same. Stop making assumptions and stay away of negative thoughts. Practice these and I assure you things will go simple, because the other person is going to reply anyway after a considerable time. While if not you can ask him/her simply, why did he skipped the reply if you feel it’s really a concern. :)

I used to feel this. I find challenging my thoughts about why they might do this is helpful. If my thought is negative, I try to challenge this and think of alternative, more realistic reasons they may have not replied. Ask yourself what the worst case reason they would not reply, and then have a think about how likely this is knowing what you already know about the person. In that moment you cannot change that the fact that they did not reply, but you can change how you think about it being on seen. Maybe ask yourself why this makes you feel anxious, and what actions you can take to reduce this anxiety.

I feel like this too and i think most of us feel that way. Try finding ways that help you cope. What are some things you like to do? maybe you like listening to music, hiking, dancing, going on walks etc. Once you find out what you really like to do, maybe you can use that to distract yourself so you arent thinking about it so much. Try thinking more positively when thinking about why they would “ignore you”. i know it can be hard, but try. Are they the type of person thats always busy? maybe thats why they looked over your text Much love

It's actually not uncommon to feel, as I have felt as well. Worrying sometimes if the person has forgotten me or if am unimportant too them. My mind goes everywhere about it and what could be going on. But I also have to remind myself to step back and think about what might be going on in their life. There so much going on in their lives sometimes that I can't always take center stage. So what I have done in the past was distract myself and text them back in 24 hours to see if they just readed and forgot to reply.

I think a lot of people feel this way, it's totally natural and we may make up a story in our head about what's going on. Firstly there could be a reason why they've done this. Do they need time to think about how to respond? Have they read it and then have to go out etc? Then there is the flip side. They are ignoring you or they are game playing to make you feel this way. If you suspect this is the case, these are always great people to have around. Accept that this is the way these people are. Prepare yourself, before you text them, they might do this. Protect yourself. If you suspect they are toxic, maybe limit contact. Otherwise try and remember not everyone does answer back quickly and may want to reflect before they message back.

I've been through this, it's a common feeling. Unfortuantely, social media in general is proven to increase anxiety in susceptible individuals (numerous studies have shown this). You can try not taking it personally, etc. But if you find yourself getting increasingly anxious about things like this, the best thing you can do for yourself and others is to stop using facebook messenger. If you have something to say try calling or sending a text. Don't attach any meaning to instant message interactions and avoid them so that they hold less weight and take up less space in your thoughts.

They are not ignoring you. Maybe they were busy or just can’t get to you. Honestly there are a lot of possibilities. You just got to hope for the best one. And if you are really anxious. Go ahead and ask them about it. Like hey I saw you ‘seen’ my message and never responded. Why was that? And they probably answer you. I think it’s no reason to get all anxious over. You hope for the best option and go with it. Oh they are just busy. Woops there phone died. Oh they fell asleep. Take your pick.

Yes, I have had. If any person saw my messages but left it that way, my heartbeat started to race faster and faster and instantly started to think I must have said something they don't like or must have offended them. Used to keep checking if they replied like hell thinking what I must have said. This used to be so cruel. This was unbearable. The first step I took to get rid of this anguish was to learn keeping others as seen. Sounds funny yet I did this true. I started to keep as seen my acquaintances and less known persons one at time first. Because the thing that used to come to my mind during this hardship was I never kept them seen. So first I had to learn to keep others seen. Then gradually realized that its everyone's right to keep others seen. Haha. Hope things get better for you..

It can help to remember that so many people, even ones we're very close to, have a lot on their plate that we may not know about. In the same way that you are anxious about being left on read, they may be anxious about answering in general, or answering and saying the wrong things. Some people have different social norms and may not realize that some messages even require a response, or a quick one. Some people may be dealing with mental or physical things that give them brain fog to the degree that they forget things easily, such as responding to a message they've already read. Can you think of a time this happened and you were able to move passed the anxiety? Was there anything that helped you, such as distracting yourself with something else, messaging another person, or doing something else that you enjoy?