The tyranny of being reachable
This is such a good article from Miski Omar. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling the pressure to respond simply because I’ve been interrupted by a message. WhatsApp and it’s demanding blue ticks really doesn’t help. In fact it’s downright intrusive isn’t it? Yet here we are. “Multiverse fatigue” is real.
This quote resonates:
My best friend just FaceTimed me about a White Lotusepisode, and another left a voice note crying about a possible diagnosis. All this, lodged between videos of cats and genocide.
Omar suggests we get back to people to acknowledge receipt (“ Hey, just a bit busy right now! I’ll get to this when time frees up”) which is all well and good, but now you have to add it to the todo stack lest you forgot (which you probably will, given the relentless multi-channel inbox firehose).
There’s not really a solution to this if you want to maintain connections in the modern world, but setting expectations somehow is probably your best chance for keeping friends without losing your mind.