How to ensure your friends don't know you've 'seen' their Facebook message

So a while back, Facebook messenger decided it'd be a good idea to add in the 'seen' function... and we never really got over it.

Sorry, but we'd like to be able to read the message, think about a reply, and then respond! What is this monstrosity of expecting answers straight away?! And there lies probably the biggest problem of modern day conversation, being able to construct and think about our responses.. RIP authentic banter.

Anyway, there's actually some ways to avoid showing you've seen your mate's messages!

Some key things to know first: 

When sending a message, here's what all the circles mean...

A spinning gray circle means your message is sending
A blue circle means your message has been sent
A filled-in blue circle means your message has been delivered
A small version of your friend or contact's photo will pop up below the message when they've read it

Read through notifications

To avoid showing you've 'seen' a message, you can just read it through 'notifications' if your notifications are set up as Banners on Apple or Alerts on iOS. This way, you can preview it on you phone's lock screen, or swipe down from the top and see the message. However, it's always a bit of an issue when the message is more than 160 characters and it cuts off.

However, it's important to note as soon as you interact with the Messenger app, the blue circle will change to a filled blue circle, showing it has at least reached your phone. If you open the message, it'll change the read receipt from a blue check mark (delivered) to your profile photo (read).

Go into airplane mode

Okay, so this is pretty sneaky...

Turn on airplane mode, open Messenger, read all received messages, then quit the app (this means launching the multitasker and actually booting it) before switching airplane mode off.

Airplane mode closes all Wi-Fi and data usage, to that means the App never passes the read receipt through though to the person (or people) you're in a conversation with. BOOM, no one will ever know you've read their message!

But what if you're not on a phone?! 

Download a Chrome extension

Good old Chrome has yet another extension to solve all your web 'issues' (if you're not using Chrome, you're still in the 2000s).

It's a lot harder preventing read receipts on Desktop, but the success will vary depending on which Chrome extension you use. Facebook Chat Privacy and Unseen are two good examples.

Otherwise, just read those damn messages and give zero f*cks.