Member-only story
I Can See You Just Tweeted, So Why Haven’t You Replied to My Email?
You assume they’re ignoring you, but there could be another explanation
Have you ever emailed someone only for them not to reply for days, but then you see them post on social media? Your initial thought is, “If they have time to post a photo on Instagram, then they have time to email me back.” As time goes by you wonder, “What if I did something to upset them?” So you think back to your latest digital communication and try to guess why they are “ghosting” you.
Ghosting is a relatively new term used to describe the act of allowing texts or emails to go unanswered — especially when a follow-up has been sent to no avail. My new book, Digital Body Language, dives into our modern modes of communication and provides strategies to avoid common pitfalls, like ghosting.
If you’ve experienced this, you are not alone. Unfortunately, we’ve all experienced this before. Our collective and universal reliance on fast-paced, real-time messaging often leaves us unnaturally frustrated when we don’t receive instantaneous responses. And with working moms often tackling childcare and remote learning, the risk of a delayed response is real.
It takes different levels of effort for posting on social media versus replying to an…