Since Instagram announced last November that it was coming, the photo and video-sharing social network this week rolled out the ability for users to switch off read receipts for their DMs, so you can control when "Read" and "Seen" indicators appear (or don't) for the sender within message streams.
You can actually now disable read receipts for your IG Direct inbox; therefore, you may end up deleting the "Seen" notification the moment you receive a message if you do not want them to see that you have actually read it and let it make them wonder.

You will find the setting right under every single user's conversation or group conversation. Just click on the contact names or group chat names to go to "Privacy & Safety," where you will then toggle off "Read Receipts."

Perhaps this would be a good feature in case you don't want your correspondent to become worried if he did not receive your reply after an appropriate time has been passed since you opened up a message.

Though most people understand that you're not going to reply straight away, but still, if this causes you unwanted drama from certain friends and family, you can now avoid it by turning off these notifications.

You can also turn off read receipts for all users in your "Messages and Story Replies" settings, so there is a way to avoid having to turn this off for each individual chat.

But either way, you now have more options for deactivating those pesky notifications, which can land you in hot water with some who expect a priority response.

It could also be handy for brands, in managing customer expectations. I mean, of course, you should be striving to reply to customer queries as soon as you can, but maybe, if you switch off read receipts, that could also limit angst.

It's something that has been in high demand for quite some time, and now you can eliminate another source of stress within your social media interactions.