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 think we've all felt something like this at one point or another when texting others. I myself sometimes worry over possibilities that I may have sent something that was unintentionally offensive or taken the wrong way by the other person when they take a while to respond. The fact that we are separated by a screen often makes it hard to tell how others are reacting to our messages as we cannot directly see their facial expressions. However, it may sometimes be unrealistic to expect a person to consistently respond to our messages. We all have our own personal lives to attend to, and our schedules don't always match up. Maybe the timing of your message was simply a bit off. There are so many variables that can come into play. For instance, perhaps you have been left on "seen" because the other person opened your message and had to deal with another situation that suddenly came up, perhaps they were only trying to clear some notifications and didn't actually see your message, perhaps they don't know how to react and are thinking of an appropriate reply, perhaps they simply forgot to get back to you as they had to take care of other things during the day.... and the list goes on. So a person who doesn't reply fast isn't necessarily ignoring you, you may have just caught them at an inconvenient time. Of course, it is nevertheless possible they are indeed purposefully ignoring you. In which case, really the best way to clear that up would be to confront them (in a polite way, mind you), and ask them about it. Seeing someone in person is truly the best way to tell how they are feeling, since we have access to their non verbal cues such as body language and attitude in addition to their words. Overall, I wouldn't blame myself too much if I were you. There are so many variables to consider and you can also check your history (i.e. chat history or past interactions) with that person to see if this is simply their normal response rate or to see if there are any signs hinting to them being more distant from you.

Oh yeah, you bet! You're not alone in this, and for me, it's not just on Facebook, but also on Whatsapp, or other messaging apps. At first, I wasn't sure how to deal with it; the anxiety and all. But later on, I figured it out just by listening to my inner voice, you know, that one that's usually so blunt and brutally honest with you at all times. Yeah! I listened to it, and this is what it told me. "You're not responsible for what anyone thinks of you. The version of you that anyone creates up in their senses is not your responsibility. Also, understand that, there are a lot of reasons people could take time in replying a message, reasons entirely different from the negative ones you've got running in your mind. So be positive, and learn to always look from the brighter sides of things, and you'll find that you'll be happier." You don't know what goes on in other people's lives, so for a moment when your anxiety starts, give yourself that reminder. I do also give benefits of doubts for the same reason I just stated. Who knows? They could've stumbled on the message and seen it when they weren't ready to, they could have been stuck in traffic and came online just to pass the time, and then suddenly the traffic got relaxed, and they needed to move, right after they'd seen your message. It could be anything causing the delay in reply, and not that they're actually ignoring you as you think (unless you're sure they are). And if ever you're sure they're just ignoring you, for reasons you can't tell and reasons best known to them, remember, you're not responsible for what anyone thinks of you, as long you do your best in being good to them. So, what I do when I find myself with this kind of anxiety, is I delete that toxic word "ignore" from my mind, and I imagine myself in a situation where I can't reply someone immediately, and I know deep down in myself that I definitely do not want my temporary disability to reply, counted as or translated into me ignoring them/anyone.

I feel the same way. It's hard to think someone's doesn't want to talk to you. I would say just try and be patient, and don't over text too much. You don't want them to get overwhelmed. If it helps, try talking to them about it when they are answering so they can tell you why when they're busy. Not being answered is frustrating, and it's easy to think that maybe they just don't want to talk to you, but that isn't always the case. You could try, while your waiting for a response, doing something else to keep your mind busy. Playing a game or watching a Youtube video.

It is natural to feel so. What I do when I feel like this is I switch of "Seen" part of messages by going to the Settings. It just helps me not focus on why the person has not replied and spiral my thoughts. I also feel it is a better way fo handling things in a better manner. If you don't know if they have seen the messages, you don't stress over why aren't they replying. As they say, ignorance is bliss. That works for me for sure. It isn't about ignoring. They could be busy and might reply later.

I think maybe they wanted more time to think of a thoughtful answer, or maybe they just had to turn to something else that came up outside of the chat and couldn't respond right away. There are a million possible things that could have happened, so it's better to not assume. Think about if you were in their position - maybe you have opened a message, maybe even accidentally! Then you didn't have time to respond or you had to do something away from your phone or computer and didn't have time to respond right away. Anything could have happened :)

Being left on seen can be really anxiety inducing. Everyone that has used social media has most likely been through that before. I cope by realizing that no one needs forced conversations, and it also might be that the person that left you on seen hasn't been able to come up with a decent response or something to say about the message. I also cope by realizing that this factor of facebook is a deliberate social engineering tool used by the social media platforms everywhere, it is made to make you feel anxious. Also, given a little time I can usually get back at chatting with the person.

I understand how you feel as I too used to feel but it don't make me anxious and I changed my perspective,Think in this way may be they got busy with something else that is unavoidable and left chatting after seeing massage or may be there are in between conversation with their parents ,family or someone related to them professionaly,or they are not replying to anyone generally as they are not feeling well, or they need sometimes to be comfortable to have proper conversation with youbasically, replying to massage may be about them not you .so try to look at it from perspective other than that of ignorance and avoidance

Yes, I understand exactly how you feel and I also feel this way when I text a message to someone and they don't reply. Sometimes I think of so many reasons like " are they busy", "do they not like me", "are they mad at me", and so much more. I cope with this by distracting myself with something. Usually when someone leaves you on seen they are either busy, don't know what to reply so they leave you on seen, aren't in the mood to talk. People go through so many things everyday so they could be having a bad day or they might not want to talk. Usually people leave someone on seen if they do not know what to say and I have personally been through it before. I cope with this by distracting myself whether that is watching a YouTube video, listening to music, exercising and so much more. Then I just tell myself that they probably have a good reason to leave me on seen and go along with my day. I usually wait and talk to them the next day and if it feels like they are mad at you. Talk to them and everything will work out. I hope this helped at least a little. And if you have any other questions, the 7 cups community is always here for you thank you

Absolutely, knowing someone has seen your message and wondering why there’s no reply can be quite anxiety inducing. However it might not be that they are ignoring you. I must admit that I am personally terrible at replying to messages, I’ll read it, whilst being busy doing something else and then go back and think oh dear I’ve left them to long to reply now! Then I’m anxious about whether I should reply after a long time! Don’t get yourself too worried about messages being seen, they could have read it and simply forgotten to reply. Send a message and then do something else like watch a video on YouTube to pass the time, sitting watching the status of the message will not make the time go any quicker or the reply come any faster!

Hiya.... If the seen messages make you feel anxious, maybe limit your time on Facebook, so you are not exposing yourself to seeing them all the time. Also, try not to assume the worst, as some people are not always available to reply straight away. Try to resist texting again, just leave it be, and if they do not respond in a timely manner, maybe concentrate on those people who are genuinely interested in you. If all else fails, just try and occupy yourself with something else more satisfying, instead of dwelling on why they have not replied to you. Take a walk, listen to music, cook a nice meal, and be kind to yourself always, Stay positive and in the moment and you will find your anxiety will dissipate and before you know it, you will have forgotten about these messages and move on. Hope this helps. :-)