Instagram is testing a new feature that turns off read receipts for direct messages.
"You asked, we listened. We heard your feedback and have started testing a new feature that lets you turn read receipts off in your DMs," Instagram Head Adam Mosseri said in a message posted to his broadcast channel. "Soon, people will be able to choose when to let others see when they've read their messages."
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also mentioned the change on his channel. "If you're someone who leaves people on read: your day has come," he wrote.
(Credit: Adam Mosseri)A screenshot posted by Mosseri shows a "Read receipts" toggle in the Instagram Privacy & Safety menu. Once enabled, your message recipients will no longer be notified that you've seen (and perhaps not responded to) a DM.
It's a nice move for privacy as well as general sanity. Read receipts are great for knowing that someone has seen your message. However, it can't impart information like whether or not the person glanced at it briefly at work or if they saw it and intentionally chose to ignore it. Getting "left on read" has become a source of stress, especially when people do it on purpose.
Neither Mosseri nor Zuckerberg specified when this will roll out to everyone.