你讨厌的“已读”功能，老外也想让它消失…
社交软件带给我们便利的同时，有些功能也让我们无比头疼。比如，消息已读、退群向其他成员发送通知等等。
今天这篇文章，作者就探讨了社交软件的这些问题，同时也提出了解决办法。我们一起看文章吧！
WhatsApp is letting us slink off with dignity intact, at last
WhatsApp用户终于可以体面地退群了
On Tuesday, WhatsApp announced new privacy features that will allow users to leave group chats without sending notifications to all members -- and to control who sees when they are active on the app. These features are a reminder to all of us that we need to be more thoughtful about the ways in which we're letting technology control our lives.
周二，WhatsApp 宣布上线新的隐私功能，允许用户在不向其他成员发送通知的情况下退出群聊，并且能够自行设置上线对他人可见。通过这些功能，我们应该清楚，技术通过各种方式控制着人们的生活，对此我们应该更加谨慎。
Ami Vora, the company's vice president for product and design, said the changes were part of WhatsApp's commitment to "building product features that empower people to have more control and privacy over their messages."
WhatsApp负责产品与设计的副总裁埃米·沃拉表示，上线这些新功能是为了践行公司的承诺，即“搭建产品功能，强化用户对自身信息的掌控从而保障用户隐私。”
That's important, because many of us have been conditioned to provide -- and expect -- instantaneous responses when people message us on work or social apps, whether it be a prospective love interest, a boss on Slack or a friend on WhatsApp.
这非常重要，因为大多数人在工作或社交软件中与他人发信息时，无论是与爱慕对象聊天、在Slack 上与上司沟通还是在WhatsApp上和好友交流，都习惯于（同时也希望）收到别人的即时回复。
The fact that other users can often see when we're online -- and whether we've read their messages -- on these apps certainly doesn't help. When you know your boss knows you have seen their request, it's pretty hard to let it just sit there and focus on something else -- even if doing so would be healthier or more productive.
在这些应用软件上，其他用户通常能够看到我们何时在线以及是否阅知了他们的信息，这常常令人感到无奈。只要阅读了上司发来的工作要求，他就能看到已读反馈，一旦清楚了这一点，哪怕先专心完成手头上的其他事情更为合理和高效，自己也无法放任这一工作不管。
But if we want to actually get work done and do it well, we often need to unplug from these apps entirely. In a 2014 study, researchers at George Mason University found that dealing with interruptions doesn't just make it take longer to complete a task -- it also causes people to do work of lower quality. Students who were interrupted while writing essays ended up earning scores that were significantly lower than those who weren't.
但若想要保质保量地完成工作，我们往往要完全远离这些应用软件。在2014年的一项研究中，来自乔治梅森大学的研究人员发现，在完成任务的过程中受到干扰，不仅会延迟完成时间，还会降低工作质量。在写论文的过程中被打断的学生，最终获得的分数明显低于那些没有受到干扰的学生。
This makes sense, since in order to plan and execute complex tasks, we often need to concentrate and maintain a coherent train of thought. So, whether or not they realize it, we'd often perform better if we didn't keep stopping to instantly respond to our colleagues.
上述研究发现是有道理的，因为在计划和执行复杂任务的时候，我们往往需要集中精力，保持思路的连贯。因此，如果为了即时回复同事的消息（无论他们是否意识到对我们造成干扰）而不断停下手头的工作，我们往往很难保证工作质量。
And, outside of work, there's more to life than endlessly messaging people. How are we supposed to savor a meal or safely care for our kids if we're responding to a steady stream of messages from our co-workers, friends and family? The simple answer is that we can't. A different 2014 paper found that as cellphone networks improved in quality, enabling the use of smartphones in different parts of the country, visits by young children to emergency rooms increased in those areas. It isn't hard to imagine that this could be because their caregivers were busy texting instead of watching them on the playground.
更何况在工作之余，生活中还有很多比无休止地回复别人信息更为重要的事情。一味将时间花在回复同事、朋友以及家人源源不断的信息之上，如何能够细细品味美食？又如何能够安全地照顾自己的孩子？简单来说，不能。2014年发表的另一篇论文发现，随着手机网络的发展有了质的提升，人们可以在全国各地使用智能手机，但与此同时，全国各地急诊室接诊幼儿的数量也在增加。不难猜测，这些孩子的监护人因忙于回复信息而疏于照看在操场玩耍的孩子。
Yet many of the products designed by tech companies, even as they increase our anxiety and decrease our productivity and overall wellness, do have the effect of keeping us tethered to our computers and phones.
然而，尽管很多科技公司设计的产品加剧了人们的焦虑，导致工作效率降低并影响人们的健康状况，它们还是做到了让我们时刻离不开电脑与手机。
When you see that a senior manager is typing you back on Slack, or the thought bubbles on your phone alert you that a love interest is tapping out a text, of course you'll sit there glued to your screen in anticipation of their message. And with many people working from home, responding instantly -- at all hours -- has become a way some people try to prove to their colleagues that they're working hard.
当看到高级经理正在Slack上输入文字准备找你，或者手机提示恋人正在敲打短信准备发给你，你自然会待在原地盯着屏幕，等待他们的信息。同时，因为很多人居家办公，全天候即时回复消息成了一些人向同事证明自己正在努力工作的方式。
What can be even worse in our culture in which instantaneous responses have become the norm is knowing that someone has seen a message and isn't responding to you. It can feel like you're being deliberately ignored, even if the person is simply just wrapped up in something else.
在我们的文化中，即时回复已成为约定俗成的准则。更糟糕的是，知道对方已读消息却没有回复，哪怕对方只是在忙其他事情，你也会觉得自己被有意忽视了。
So the option to disable some of these creepy tools that allow people to know when you're online and have received their messages -- or whether you're participating in a group chat -- is a welcome development. But it's up to all of us to actually use them. We need to educate ourselves about what privacy options are available to us on different social networks and then take the time to activate them. And, ultimately, we need to think through whether we really want to cede control of our time to technology and other people. We should consider prioritizing the things we want to do, rather than giving precedence to the messages at the top of our apps.
因此，可以选择禁用这些让人神经紧绷的功能（例如让别人知道你何时在线，是否已读消息，或者是否参与群聊）是一个可喜的进步。但在实际使用中，还是要取决于我们。我们要学习和了解不同社交软件有哪些隐私选项，花点时间来激活它们。最终，我们要想清楚是否愿意让技术或者其他人来掌控自己的时间，要优先考虑自己真正想要的，不被社交软件新弹出的消息裹挟。
If we all start taking advantage of these tools and changing the ways in which we react to incoming messages, we can ultimately change our culture of endless messaging. Then one day our bosses might be happy not to receive instant responses from us.
如果我们利用好这些社交软件并改变即时回复消息的习惯，那么最终，我们可以从无休止的信息轰炸文化中解脱。也许有一天，我们的上司会很高兴，因为不用再收到我们的即时回复了。
今日词汇
privacy features 隐私功能
group chats 群聊
empower v. 授权；给予（某人）权力，使自主
instantaneous responses 即时回复
unplug / ˌʌnˈplʌɡ / v. 暂时克制不用电子设备
glue v. 胶合，粘贴；<非正式>专注于
翻译讨论
When you know your boss knows you have seen their request, it's pretty hard to let it just sit there and focus on something else -- even if doing so would be healthier or more productive.
只要阅读了上司发来的工作要求，他就能看到已读反馈，一旦清楚了这一点，哪怕先专心完成手头上的其他事情对身心更加有利更加合理且高效，自己也无法放任这一工作不管。
这里的healthy指normal and sensible，翻为“合理”更恰当一些。
你最烦社交软件的哪个功能呢？
欢迎留言讨论哦！
译者：应用型笔译班学员 Lambert
审校：Jennifer
英文来源：CNN
*对应译文由译介翻译团队完成，仅供参考，不当之处欢迎大家在评论区讨论！转载请注明来源！
▲ 如需人工翻译服务，请联系微信号kevinssf ！
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