Colin Sheridan: Obsessing over WhatsApp 'ticks' while waiting to hear from Gaza

Anybody who’s ever experienced a loved one caught up in a “world event,” will understand all too well the pros and cons of modern communicative technology

There are arguably few things crueller in modern life than watching someone you care deeply for appear online, start typing, then suddenly disappear into the ether. File picture

One of my oldest friends is in Gaza. He was there long before October, and almost every day since. If one were to ask how I’d define our friendship, I would say ours is not one built on the fickle foundation of constant communication. I think we bought our first mobile phones together in 1998, and he has had the same number since.

It would be impossible to count the number of messages we’ve exchanged between this and then, and it really doesn’t matter, because ours was simply not the type of friendship that ever required constant attention. If water lilies need moisture every day, then we were a pair of cacti, impervious to drought. Messages often lay unanswered for days, sometimes weeks. Their reciprocation or otherwise was never indicative of our relationship. If we needed each other, we called. Blue ticks never mattered. I can tell you today with all the conviction of a man beside himself with perpetual worry, that they do now.