TL;DR
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A Bolde advice article describes six kinds of messages and remarks that people seeking calm may choose not to answer immediately, including after-hours work messages and hostile online comments. In the available excerpt, Bolde cites research on reply-time expectations, notifications, interruptions and anger, but the excerpt does not provide evidence that ignoring all six categories makes people calmer overall.
Bolde has published an advice article arguing that people who leave certain messages and remarks unanswered may be calmer than those who respond to everything. The piece identifies six categories, but the supplied excerpt describes only five. Bolde cites several psychology studies to support some examples; the excerpt does not establish a general finding that nonresponse itself produces calm.
In the supplied excerpt, Bolde covers after-hours work messages, mid-task notifications, hostile comments from strangers, angry remarks and unsolicited advice. The article recommends not treating every message as a demand for an immediate reply. Its practical point is that a person can register a message and respond later—or decide that a response is not needed—rather than letting each interruption dictate their attention.
For work email, Bolde cites eight preregistered experiments involving more than 4,000 participants by Laura Giurge and Vanessa Bohns. According to Bolde’s account of the research, recipients overestimated how quickly senders expected replies to non-urgent messages, especially when messages arrived outside normal working hours. The article also says this expectation was associated with more stress and lower wellbeing among recipients. As Bolde presents it, the research concerns expectations; it does not show that every late message can safely wait.
On notifications, Bolde cites a two-week University of British Columbia field experiment involving 124 adults. The article says participants checked email as they wished during one week and were limited to three checks a day during the other, and that reported daily stress was significantly lower during the limited-checking week. Bolde also summarizes a separate interruption experiment by Gloria Mark and colleagues: interrupted workers finished somewhat faster but reported more stress, frustration and time pressure. Its remaining examples concern hostile online exchanges and angry remarks, while its fifth example advises briefly acknowledging unsolicited advice rather than debating it.
Why Delayed Replies Can Reduce Pressure
The article speaks to a familiar tension: messaging tools make people reachable at nearly any hour, while recipients may interpret every notification as an obligation. The studies Bolde cites suggest that expectations about response speed and repeated interruptions can affect stress. A deliberate pause may give people more control over attention and reduce the pressure to answer before they are ready.
That does not mean silence is always the best response. Some messages are genuinely urgent, and conversations about work, relationships or responsibilities may require a clear answer. The useful distinction is between choosing when and whether to reply and avoiding communication that another person reasonably needs. Bolde offers a personal strategy, not a clinical rule or a guarantee of improved wellbeing.
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Studies Behind the Advice
The research Bolde cites addresses narrower questions than its headline. In Bolde’s summary, Giurge and Bohns examined beliefs about how quickly senders expect responses to work email; the UBC field experiment compared two email-checking schedules over two weeks; and Mark and colleagues examined the effects of interruptions on work performance and participants’ reported experience. Each finding applies to the study conditions described. The information in the supplied excerpt does not show that any of these studies tested a single six-part program for becoming calmer.
For its discussion of online hostility, Bolde summarizes research by teams at Stanford and Cornell on factors associated with trolling. Bolde says negative mood and exposure to hostile posts each increased the odds of trolling, and that the two factors together roughly doubled them. The article characterizes this as a spiral in which hostile exchanges can feed further hostility. Bolde also refers to Brad Bushman’s experiment on anger, reporting that participants who dwelled on a provocation remained angrier and behaved more aggressively than those who were distracted. These are Bolde’s summaries of the cited findings; they offer context for pausing but do not establish that every angry remark should go unaddressed.
What the Available Report Leaves Open
The supplied source excerpt ends during Bolde’s discussion of unsolicited advice, before describing the sixth category or completing the article. The excerpt does not make it possible to verify the final example or determine whether the full article included additional research or qualifications. No publication date is included in the supplied material.
The scope of the evidence also remains limited. The supplied source provides brief summaries rather than full study citations, methods or results, and it does not establish that people who leave these messages unanswered are calmer as a group. The studies Bolde describes examine particular expectations, checking schedules, interruptions or emotional responses. Whether delaying a reply helps depends on the circumstances, the relationship and the message’s urgency.
The Missing Sixth Example
Readers seeking the complete list would need to consult the full Bolde article, since the supplied excerpt does not include its final example. For anyone applying the advice, the distinction to watch is whether a message can reasonably wait: a routine after-hours email may be different from an urgent request or a conversation that needs a timely response. The supplied source does not announce further reporting or a later research milestone.
Key Questions
What are the five categories described in the supplied report?
In its supplied excerpt, Bolde covers after-hours work messages, notifications during a task, hostile comments from strangers, remarks made in anger and unsolicited advice. The article introduces six categories, but the excerpt ends before identifying the sixth.
Does research prove that not replying makes people calmer?
No. Bolde cites studies on email expectations, checking frequency, interruptions and anger. The findings described in the supplied excerpt do not prove that leaving all six kinds of communication unanswered makes people calmer overall.
What did the email-checking experiment find?
According to Bolde’s summary, a two-week field experiment with 124 adults compared unrestricted email checking with checking email three times daily. Participants reported significantly lower daily stress during the limited-checking week.
Does the article say to ignore every message?
No. Bolde’s advice is about not assuming that every message requires an immediate reply. The supplied source does not say that urgent messages or important conversations should be ignored.
Source: rss
