Apologies if this has been glaringly obvious to everyone else, but it just occurred to me that living in the era of ubiquitous instantaneous yet asynchronous communication (i.e. email, text messaging, & other forms of direct messaging) gives each of us a tremendous amount of control over the tempo of our interactions with other people.
It’s as easy to respond to someone immediately as it is to slow walk a response or even choose to not respond entirely. This can be used to build momentum, slow momentum, or stop something dead in its tracks.