The moral, explained
Oog sent Ochra a smoke signal: a little smiley face. She saw it. So he sent a heart. Then a whole mammoth, which took all afternoon. Meanwhile, the Chief sent one puff, and she answered in a second. So Oog climbed a mountain to make sure she could see him. She could. At last, a reply. Oog read it forty times.
Being left on seen means the other person opened your message, the app told you so, and they didn't answer. Sometimes there's a good reason: they were busy, they forgot, they didn't know what to say. But when it happens again and again, while they answer other people in a second, the silence is an answer too.
The trap is the one Oog fell into. When someone gives you less, the instinct is to give more: a bigger message, a funnier one, a mountain. It rarely works, because the problem was never the size of the smoke signal. Effort only means something when it goes both ways.
Try this today
Look at the last few people you've chased for a reply. For each one, ask a simple question: if I stopped messaging first, would I hear from them? Spend your next free half hour on someone who would.
Talk about it
What's the longest you've waited for a reply you could see was read? Did you climb the mountain?
