Tapbacks in iMessage

Tapbacks are useful.

It’s hard to imagine a world without them. But they’re also an easy excuse for not engaging—why send a thoughtful response when an exclamation or thumbs up will suffice?

I’m glad we have them, and glad that they’ve been extended to emoji. But sometimes I wonder if I’d be better off without them, where I’d be forced to write out actual thoughts, instead of mostly hollow hearts.