The world today is distracting. The population at large is overstimulated by a myriad of different sources, with smartphones chief among them. At any moment, a text can arrive and distract you from the moment, whipping you to a virtual conversation with someone thousands of miles away. Even while opening and reading that text, and thinking of something sufficiently deserving of a "haha" in response: likes, DMs, comments, or any other number of notifications can distract you from that which distracted you in the first place. It is an unmitigated disaster. 

If I'm reading a text, and someone else sends me a video of a chimpanzee seeing a magic trick, I have no choice but to watch. But this miracle of mammalian relations will clear my mind of any thoughts of the previous text, and I will go on to be distracted by the next scroll, message, etc. That poor soul who texted me first, who's only crime was not sending me the aforementioned video, will be left unresponded to, and alone. If I have read receipts on, they feel betrayed, and if I don't, they are lost. For products that have such remarkable potential to bring people together, that is a travesty, and even worse, a preventable one. 

In the above scenario, instead of immediately going to the new text, and certain doom for texter #1, imagine if there was a way for to remind yourself to respond. A simple button, potentially called "Mark as Unread", which would allow you time to witness the glorious video, think of a response to texter #1, and be reminded to do so by a similar style of notification that distracted you. 

Apple has incredible designers and engineers, who make products that millions of people use every day. To people 50 years ago, its capabilities would be like magic. It is therefore impossible to fathom they cannot add a simple function that has existed for years on Email, Facebook, and Instagram. 

I beg you to add the button. For myself, for texter #1, and the world.