01 May, 2014

Whatsapp

New social medias come up every day and become a new rage. I was never on BBM (thankfully). There has been facebook for some time and now whatsapp is the new thing.
Lets talk about whatsapp and my personal views on that.
Discaimer: These are strictly my personal opinions. You may choose to agree or disagree with me.
It is nice to have groups on whatsapp. It keeps lots of people of various kinds connected. But what I do not like/find inconvenient in groups is unnecessary messages- random jokes, quotes, good morning, thumbs ups etc. Can someone please explain me their purpose? It is sheer wastage of time both for the sender and the receiver. Agreed that whatsapp is free. But for me time is money. Agreed that I have the option of switching off the notifications and not reading those messages (and I have done that). It still gets too much. Sometimes I wonder, don't they have anything better to do? How do people have so much spare time and I have so little?
I prefer groups which are strictly professional and informative. To the point- give you just the required information.
Icing on the cake- today a friend called me up raising a very strong objection and saying, "Hey I answered your question on whatsapp in a group chat. I expect you to say ok or thumbs up in group chat." I smiled and said, "ok I will do it". But it did not satisfy her. She told me, "I do not find it funny. I am serious. Please put ok". I said "OK. I told you I will do it. Why are you stretching it?" She said, "No, you are stretching it." It really sounded like saying, "say thank u, please, sorry to me."
Thumbs up - Can someone please explain to me what it really means on whatsapp. One person sends a joke and ten others respond with a thumbs up. A party invite is responded with a thumbs up. Who started this trend? Where is it going? My friend expected a thumbs up and was disappointed when she did not get one from me. I thought my friend was as mature as me. But I did not know that like small kids, she wanted a smiley face kind of thing.
I am wondering, really? Is OK and thumbs up, so very important on whatsapp? Really?
Whatsapp is wonderful free messaging service. Use it wisely and with discretion. Send the same messages on whatsapp that you would send, if each message costed you some money to send. Then you would filter and send only the appropriate, to the point, work related, right messages. Not good morning, good night, thumbs up, flowers, dancing dolls, jokes, poems, random photos, random videos and quotes. Use the same time for work, arts, hobbies, etc. And please do not say that whatsapp is your latest hobby. Anyone who is overactive on whatsapp groups and sending random messages, is clearly announcing to the world- "Hey! look I am dumb, lonely and alone. I have nothing better to do in life. May I seek your attention please?"
Another person I know, has this habit of being super rude in person (without even slightest provocation) and sending a sorry message later on whatsapp. Really? Does it work that way?
One feature that I really like in whatsapp is Blocking a person. I block every unknown person, who sends me a random text. Also I am not interested to see what time, any of my contact was seen on whatsapp last. So I have made my settings in a way that neither anyone can see when I was last online nor I would see for anyone.
People have developed uses of whatsapp according to their convenience. Most of them are beyond my comprehension.