Terms Governing Read Receipt Boundary
A person has read a message and chosen not to respond immediately. Both parties are aware of this arrangement.
Counterfactual: Read Receipt Boundary April 2022
The Situation
A message was sent at 2:14 p.m. The message contained a question. It was not a simple question, but it was not a complex one. A response could have been sent in under two minutes.
The message was read at 2:17 p.m. A read receipt was generated.
No response followed.
It is now 4:43 p.m.
In a World Without Read Receipts
In that world, the sender does not know whether the message was received, read, or seen. The gap between 2:14 and a later response is experienced as ordinary latency.
The sender may think: the person is busy, the person hasn't seen it yet, the person will respond when they can.
These are comfortable interpretations. They require no additional information.
In This World
The gap between 2:14 and 4:43, in this world, is a documented interval. The reader read the message. The reader made a decision. The decision was not to respond immediately.
The sender knows this. The reader knows the sender knows this. The sender knows the reader knows this is known.
This is a significant amount of shared knowledge about a two-minute task that has not been completed.
The Three Available Interpretations
Interpretation A: The reader is genuinely busy and intends to respond with proper attention when time permits. This is the most likely explanation.
Interpretation B: The reader read the message, did not have an answer, and has been avoiding the question since 2:17. This is possible.
Interpretation C: The reader is composing a very careful response. It is currently 4:43.
The Absurd Rule
The read receipt was designed to provide confirmation of delivery. It now provides confirmation of awareness, which is a different kind of information and creates a different kind of situation.
The feature cannot be disabled by the recipient. The recipient did not create this situation. The situation was created by the interface.
Resigned Acceptance
In a world without read receipts, the delay would be invisible and unremarkable. In this world, it is a documented event.
Both parties will eventually speak again. The message will be answered. The read receipt will not be discussed.
This is also a known arrangement.