[Thad E Ginathom]

Whatsapp continues to be just an excellent international multimedia communications app for me. I persuaded a couple of people in UK to install it just so that we can keep in touch (ok, I admit this: and exchange cat pictures!).

I also continue to be a forum follower, and not to have twitter or facebook accounts. I like to be read; I like to be liked, but I don't understand how the whole share/like addiction thing happens.

I care enough about Whatsapp to really hope that Facebook don't ruin it by turning it into Facebook lite, filling with ads, or something. But I also wonder how else they are ever going to make money out of it.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I like to be read; I like to be liked, but I don't understand how the whole share/like addiction thing happens.

That's exactly the mechanics of it. There was this branch of psychology that was quite in vogue in the 70s or 80s (I remember my dad having books on the subject on his desk) called Transactional Analysis. Now I don't know if it's still popular or credible, but the underlying principles still hold good I guess. Your emotional state is dependent on the quality and type of interactions with others. There was also the concept of 'strokes', positive interactions with others where you get conditional or unconditional positive feedback from them and that increases your self esteem.

A like on a social media post is a 'stroke' these days. A 'like' from a stranger or a popular online personality or someone you admire is a stronger stroke I guess. [So is the number of 'thanks' on TBhp I guess. ] So the whole structure of social media is based on some very strong psychological principles and that's why it's addictive.

[Not trying to say it's a bad thing, or that everyone will follow the same pattern, just drawing a parallel with some theories that were well regarded in their time. Perhaps some of the doctors on the forum can validate.]

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by am1m

That's exactly the mechanics of it. There was this branch of psychology that was quite in vogue in the 70s or 80s (I remember my dad having books on the subject on his desk) called Transactional Analysis.

Oh yes, I vaguely remember TA too. Must refresh my memory, but I seem to recall that it was one of those things that people got obsessed with back then.

[pedrolourenco]

Almost everyone uses WhatsApp. And almost all WhatsApp users have Telegram installed on their phones. Telegram has a few advantages over WhatsApp but has somehow not been able to capture the market.

[motorworks]

I absolutely hate this trend of numerous official and personal groups, just for the sake of it. I just cannot understand the need to have so many groups and all people do is send forwards from one group to the other. I managed to get out of most personal WhatsApp groups and Im just on one of them. However in the office, you cannot do that, so there are some 10 groups now, and 2-3 are just dead. Just that no one wants to get out of it. I mean, why is that mails and phone calls cannot resolve these things? Just pathetic!

[doxinboy]

Though I'm over 40, my emotions are determined by the colour of the ticks. It's like the huge, ancient & rusted sledgehammer, hitting as heavy as a locomotive, on the softest marshmellow. It's high time we include the impact of social media on our lives as part of high school curriculum.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by Saanil

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.

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

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).

I can fully understand what you mean. I've got so much time back after dumping Whatsapp and a couple of other social media platforms.

All our handheld mobile devices (iOS) at home have Screentime limits and Downtime setup. This is highly effective even for adults. I recommend it. I don't know if Android offers a similar feature.

Let's face it. It is easy to blame the children and Millenials but boomers are offenders as well. I'm sure many have asked their parents to stop forwarding nonsense Whatsapp messages.

Sorry to go off-topic. IMHO but one of the best self-confidence boosting steps one could take is to not look for validation from online strangers for one's choices/opinions/skills/interests.

I understand from my nephews and nieces in India that their schools were using Whatsapp for communicating for online schooling. A social-media tool is used by pre-teens. I can imagine the digital awareness education would be close to zero. There are many Apps that are exclusive for online schooling purpose but I don't know about the adoption levels there.

[Guite]

The question I am about to ask is a bit off topic, but I will post here instead of starting a new thread.

The amount to junk image and photos that get saved on our phones through Whatsapp is huge. However there are family and social photos that I would like to keep. I have been looking for quite sometime now for a software application which can 'view' and sort these images by 'content'. For example, it should be able to identify memes, pure cat and flower photos, etc and sort it in a certain manner for quick and easy delete of unwanted images. It should be a Windows desktop application. Any pointers would be welcome.

[dailydriver]

It would surely be unimaginable that fellow members use WhatsApp for purposes as varied as this and I don't remember this thread!

Originally Posted by sri32

The Story of buying an Audi A4 over WhatsApp | Bought in Mumbai for registration in Chennai

All of this happened without me ever having to set foot in the dealership or even Mumbai. In fact, I saw the associate and her manager for the first time ever when I went to pick up the vehicle. They confirmed this was their first-ever sale that happened entirely on WhatsApp and apparently they even debated whether to take the enquiry seriously when I mentioned on the first call that I did not want to visit the dealership anytime except for taking delivery if the deal worked...

Originally Posted by Mystic

I also bought my Jimny in Visakhapatnam by sitting in Bangalore...

Another related story of the power of Whatsup etc is buying a house in San Diego near to UCSD university ( my son is a faculty). My son is nervous as he does not have any experience in this area as he is into CS-AI and it is his first house buying. I am a civil engineer but thought there is not much I can do sitting on the other side of planet helping him. As the cheapest house in this area is 2 million USD and most of the houses are of craftsman architecture and more than 120 years old. My son has walked me through more than 80 houses before we finalised in Whatsup.

[IamNikhil]

The amount of groups that are created for personal/professional purposes are just insane. I wonder when this trend will stop. In most of the cases, exiting is not an option since it would be considered rude, so the only available option left with a lot of us hapless souls is muting the group!

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

The amount of groups that are created for personal/professional purposes are just insane. I wonder when this trend will stop. In most of the cases, exiting is not an option since it would be considered rude, so the only available option left with a lot of us hapless souls is muting the group!

If you absolutely do not want to share anything in the group or read messages, you can lock the chat.



It will simply be in the locked chats folder and you won’t get notified of any new messages coming in these chats.



Works a level better than muting (which may prompt you to read messages occasionally out of curiosity).

[IamNikhil]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

If you absolutely do not want to share anything in the group or read messages, you can lock the chat.

It will simply be in the locked chats folder and you won’t get notified of any new messages coming in these chats.

Works a level better than muting (which may prompt you to read messages occasionally out of curiosity).

Whoa! Absolutely did not know about this feature. Many thanks Bhpian Gannu_1 for this enlightening suggestion

[Fuldagap]

The groups in WhatsApp are indeed a 'necessary evil'. Instead of muting them, archiving them works even better. I even archive chats from friends so that I only look at them when necessary. Keeps one focussed on more important stuff.

On the other hand, WhatsApp is indeed great for communicating with almost anyone. Be it for personal or professional reasons. Work done through WhatsApp is much faster than other channels like emails.

I am in love with the Meta AI chat feature of WhatsApp. Instead of googling info, just type in a message inside WhatsApp and there you go. Works like a charm!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Fuldagap

The groups in WhatsApp are indeed a 'necessary evil'. Instead of muting them, archiving them works even better. I even archive chats from friends so that I only look at them when necessary. Keeps one focussed on more important stuff.

I use archiving for the same purpose.

On the other hand, WhatsApp is indeed great for communicating with almost anyone.

I wish we could get away from Meta. I wish the whole world would shift to Signal. But that's an impossible dream and it isn't going to happen.

I am in love with the Meta AI chat feature of WhatsApp. Instead of googling info, just type in a message inside WhatsApp and there you go. Works like a charm!

I, on the other hand, wish it could be turned off.

I do not want to use Whatsapp as a browser. And I avoid "AI" stuff anyway.

[Fuldagap]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I wish we could get away from Meta. I wish the whole world would shift to Signal. But that's an impossible dream and it isn't going to hapen

Of all chatting apps, WhatsApp has been dominant and is a convenient way to reach out to people. The business side of it has made communicating and reaching out to people even easier. A lot of e-commerce revolves around Whatsapp now.
Signal is great, but hardly anyone uses it, like there is Google Chat. It is great too, doesn't require a VPN in countries where the likes of WhatsApp/Signal/Telegram calling is banned and requires a VPN. But none of them make much sense when no one uses them.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I, on the other hand, wish it could be turned off.

I remember trying to find a way to turn it off too, a couple of months back. Spent a lot of time asking Meta AI to find a solution to my ache.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I do not want to use Whatsapp as a browser. And I avoid "AI" stuff anyway.

I use AI chatbots as a substitute for Googling.