The nagging feeling

Message-senders expect immediate replies. They may get annoyed and ride an emotional roller coaster when a message isn't immediately answered. 'Maybe something bad happened.' 'Maybe he's mad at me.'

The sender may wonder why they can't just respond with a busy now, talk later. These negative feelings can increase when sending a joke or meme and expecting a quick haha or a simple emoji.

Part of what cause these uncomfortable feelings is that there's no universal agreed-upon etiquette for behaviour in a 24/7 digital world.