Tyranny of 'typing...' In an eternal limbo

There are few more efficient instruments of psychological warfare than WhatsApp's 'typing...'. It occupies almost no screen space, consumes negligible data, and can ruin an otherwise serviceable afternoon. You send: 'Are we still meeting?' And a slanting 'typing...' appears. Great. Information approaches. 10 secs later, information has not approached. The three dots fizz away like soda while the mind begins producing increasingly expensive interpretations. Why is this taking so long? 'Yes' is available. So is 'No'. Sometimes, 30 secs pass. You fear for the sender's safety - has his or her suddenly-gone numb finger fallen on a letter of the phone keyboard producing an endless stream of letters that will never reach you?

Then 'typing...' vanishes. This is serious escalation. Silence is one thing. Aborted typing suggests deliberation. Something was written, examined and deemed insufficient. You stare at the phone as if monitoring a hostage negotiation. 'typing...' reappears. At last, the message lands: 'Fine.' Fine? A passive-aggressive, possibly deeply problematic 'Fine' - but a tangible one. The accused has finally been sentenced - well, worded, if not sentenced. Uncertainty has been pushed back. Then comes the most terrifying development of all. 'typing...' Again. Moral: Like markets dislike uncertainty more than bad news, so do people.