While I’m not a fan of either, I think “typing” indicators are a natural response to read receipts unfortunately. Sending a read receipt applies time pressure, because now the other person knows you’ve seen it. So, the “typing” indicator lets them know that you’re working on a response and not ignoring them.

If we just didn’t send read receipts we wouldn’t need “typing” indicators at all. It’s a case of unnecessary complexity causing unnecessary complexity