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-   -   WhatsApp and its effect on our lives (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/185289-whatsapp-its-effect-our-lives-4.html)

At least I am addicted to about five forums! And not whatsapp at all :D

I was off whatsapp for 2+ years in my College. It was really hard for others to comprehend why I wasn't on whatsapp. Close friends adapted to this and we used hangouts/Skype to chat and call.

But in final year I was forced to install it back as my classmates and teachers used to upload class schedule, homework, projects, assignments etc on the whatsapp group. And there were many instances of me missing classes or the worst case - Waiting for others to turn up when the class was postponed/cancelled.

One More phenomenon I've observed is that people are very reluctant to call each other. Most prefer whatsapp. So my general policy on whatsapp is to mute everything - basically I've disabled all notifications for whatsapp - and l use it sparingly. The most time spent on it usually via web.whatsapp.com as that way I can limit my phone time.

I use an iPhone 5S and despite heavy usage, manage to last the day. clap:

Edit- I don't have FB, twitter, etc accounts as well. And I've never been so happy. I'm trying to eliminate whatsapp as much as possible, but it's a tad difficult. One option is to install it on work phone and delete it from my main phone - but that needs to be explored.

The Age of Digital Distraction. The Age of Instant Gratification. The Age of Electronic Media Addiction.

I am a pretty consistent and moderately heavy user of the new age messaging systems, phone, email and social media - however, I have completely disabled the notifications piece, from my phone, which means I only look at these things when I am of a mind to, rather than allow myself to be compulsively distracted by them to the exclusion of pretty much all else!

I have made a conscious attempt to have as little a digital footprint as I can afford. So have no Innstagram/FB/Linkedin/Twitter profiles and neither use them, apart from checking Twitter updates of a few authors. For the longest time I avoided whatsapp. But there is just no getting away from it, when everyone from the mechanic to your customer is using it. I strictly use it as a communication tool and don't subscribe to any groups. 80% of the times I use it through its web interface. Can say this with delight that T-BHP is THE ONLY social platform I want to and I am alive on.

A series of unsubstantiated messages regarding Government monitoring the social media and acting sternly against rumour mongers have been doing rounds on WhatsApp of late. There have also been newspaper reports of police apprehending the admins of certain groups for purportedly violating Governmental norms (whatever they are).

A literary group that I am part of has had a series of messages exhorting members to restrain from writing politically incorrect poems so as not to get the admin arrested :Frustrati.

A sense of eerie, awkward and uneasy silence prevailed for a while until someone somewhere came up with this masterpiece and it crashlanded in our group.



I have had to calm down a number of friends who were worried that in spite of updating the app, they are not able to see three blue ticks against their sent messages !

PS: The last line, masked by the forum watermark reads (Police will arrest you soon).

I don't let Whatsapp/FB/Instagram or any other app affect me.

I deliberately keep the notifications OFF on all apps. I check apps/Whatsapp as per my convenience and not as per the app's convenience to show me the received messages as soon as it receives them.

For urgency, I prefer people to contact me via phone call.

Mostly my whatsapp status also reads 'Urgent messages only'.

Though the app has some very good uses, like video calling with you near and dear ones when you are out of town etc.

Use any app wisely, don't let the app use you!

A very good topic to discuss and debate on here. Being a 15 year old, I will put down what I think about this.

- Although I am not one of those who uses whatsapp, many of my school teachers are annoyed of students who use slang language in their essays and letters. (No spellchecker there unfortunately) :D

- I usually use Facebook for writing blogs on cars and messenger. Check the news feed sometimes but nothing useful there too.

- Many of my friends are addicted to whatsapp especially. If you are not on whatsapp, it basically means that you are not 'cool' in teen context. Add to this the fact that I am engrossed in cars, and I end up being an introvert altogether.

- Very useful for sharing notes and homework. :uncontrol

One thing I've realised among "consumer WhatsApp groups" is that one must be cautious in reacting to situations of unnecessary escalations.

Oftentimes, an aggrevated consumer, because he/she is angry, may tend to use a minor miscommunication to make the brand/dealer seem vicious & cheatful. The corollary is also probably true, but here I'm talking about us consumers.

This largely affects service oriented businesses where the service level isn't homogenous.

:OT Just taking a guess, you could probably try changing your number in one of the whatsapp application. And I am guessing that it should move. I have not tried this, but I use whatsapp on an android phone for a number that is used on Blackberry.

Changing the number migrates all groups to the new number. Anyway I managed to migrate all the groups I required by messaging the admins.

I wanted to post something about Facebook (FB) although this thread is about whatsapp as I believe some of the underlying dynamics have similarities. It’s been about 25 days since I deleted Facebook app from my phone and have not logged into my Facebook account from my desktop. I took this move out of sheer irritation arising from the amount of time I was wasting on it. The thing about social media is that even though you spent just 5 minutes on it at a point of time you do it throughout the day many times thereby wasting hours doing this without even realizing it.

My issue was not just the amount of time I was putting on this app but the quality of content I was getting exposure to. I started hating most of the posts made by friends/family. I feel most of the posts which were coming on my timeline were just attempts to a) voice their useless ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude b) Share something to appear cool c) share a restaurant/movie related update. I somehow started getting a feeling that most of the posts made by people on FB were fake and portraying an image of how an ideal world should be. There was a strange process happening wherein even though I was talking to many people and coming in contact with old friends, I never felt connected to them in a meaningful way.

The amount of mobile usage people indulge in these days is really scary. Few instances:

a) Whenever I enter a local train in Mumbai, most of the people are just looking at their mobile phones.
b) You are watching a serial on TV and the moment an advertisement comes up, people around you start checking their phones.
c) The first thing people do in the morning while getting up is check their phone (How about a good morning?)
d) People even check their phones while taking to someone! This is so disrespectful. Sometimes they reply to you even without looking at you as they are busy checking their FB profile!

I believe most of the millennials are heavily addicted to social media platforms – the worst according to me are FB/Instagram/Snapchat. I understand the view point that it is dependent on you to decide how you want to leverage the power of social media. For me, the impact of social media has been very negative, hence I have decided to reduce my social media involvement (I am only on Twitter now).

Did you happen to watch Simon Sinek's video about Millenials? :)

Some of the points he mentions are pretty genuine.

Absolutely! It was after watching his video I realized how these social media platforms were affecting me. I would urge everyone to have a look at that video.

Heh Heh thought as much :) It was a pretty good talk by him. I had taken off FB ages back as it started becoming a cesspool of negativity and social media was becoming anti social media :P

As for Whatsapp, i took myself off many groups except for a few inevitable family groups and some groups with very good friends.

Got tired of correcting fake news in every group. The things people believe in...Ah well.

Thanks for guiding me to this video. I have decided to stop using FB with immediate effect. Let me see, how long I can do this, but I do want to try this for sure.