I hardly think the behavior is as malicious as the author seems to suggest.

As an anecdote, I am an iPhone user with read receipts on. My phone tells those who send me messages both when I have received the message (Delivered), and the exact time that I opened the message. Even with read receipts turned off, other people KNOW that I at least got the message because of the Delivered flag.

For this reason, there is a dynamic that compels me to -- in my limited texting time -- respond to iPhone messages first, those people after all know that I at least received, if not opened, their message. I feel less guilty about putting the green messages at the back of my respond queue because at least there's not a "READ THREE HOURS AGO" message mocking the sender.