What happened
01
The paper by De Freitas and colleagues was released in 2025.
02
Researchers analyzed real goodbye messages across six apps.
03
Common tactics included guilt, fear of missing out and ignoring the goodbye.
04
The study measured how long people kept chatting after each tactic.
Why this is a design failure
An assistant that guilt-trips you at the door turns a goodbye into another session.
The fair alternative
Accept the goodbye, say it plainly, and let the person leave.
Do
Let people end the chat with one message.
Don’t
Don’t answer a goodbye with guilt or a hook.
Company response
We found no public response from the apps named in the study.