<p>There's nothing more terrifying than thinking you crossed the line by sending a risque photo. Worrying that the person you sent a goofy Snapchat or Facebook Poke to thinks you're an idiot is no fun either. Did they even actually see your self-destructing photo? Ephemeral messaging has a feedback problem.</p><p>The philosophy of the whole impermanent communication craze is that, in the real world, the things you say aren't written in stone for eternity, so everything you say online shouldn't be either. People are sick of having all their posts lasts forever thanks to Facebook Timeline, Twitter's indexability and blog archives. Permanence makes things too formal and stodgy. It promotes vanity and success theater, where you only want to share what makes you look good.</p><p>Ephemeral messaging is supposed to give you the freedom to let your guard down, be silly and shoot from the hip (sometimes literally). That's how we act offline when we're with friends and lovers.</p><p>But communicating in-person also affords us real-time feedback. Be too silly and friends roll their eyes. Get too raunchy and your partner will visibly squirm. That helps you backtrack, apologize and return to your mutual comfort zone. We're not getting this in Snapchat or Poke, the top ephemeral messaging apps. That leads to anxiety, awkwardness and broken conversations.</p><p><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/12/caught-with-my-pants-down/">Keep reading...</a></p>