IPhone 4S: Any way to turn off Read text feature?

Depending on who I'm texting (and, I assume, the type of phone he or she uses), I'm notified as to whether or not that person has read my text. The word "Delivered", which appears under my text after it successfully goes through, changes to "Read" upon the recipient opening our text conversation. I imagine the textee in this instance is also able to see if I have read their text or not. Is there any way to disable this feature so that neither party knows if the other person has or hasn't "read" their text? This is not a matter of grave concern; I just find this facet of the iPhone slightly creepy.

To change the setting go to

settings > mesages > Send read receipts OFF

They won't be able to see when you've read their messages. You won't be able to control whether or not you can see if they've read your messages, though. They would have to change their settings.

Some like that feature (like boyfriend - girlfriend) … But yeah I prefer it off which you can turn off in the settings.