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What’s Up? I Mean WhatsApp

cooltext468162920Ten Things about WhatsApp on my Phone

WhatsApp, the free messaging application, must be the most used app on every smartphone. In fact it has become a social network of its own kind. It gives you the freedom to chat individually with a contact as well as to form your own chat groups.

So, we have various WhatsApp groups in our smartphones viz friends, girl friends, cousins, school mates, college mates, work mates, kitty party, neighbourhood etc etc. If you have worked in more companies, so more work groups and like wise you can have school and college friends batch wise. Phew… a lot of groups.whatsapp-logo

So many groups and so many people to chat with, here’s a sneak peak of what’s happening on WhatsApp on my phone…

  • I guess, WhatsApp is mostly used for mass-texting jokes. I get a joke from somebody, I immediately copy paste it and send it other WhatsApp groups and friends. No, plagiarism never crosses my mind when on Whatsapp.
  • Same goes for the motivational pictures and posters. Sometimes, I wonder if all these good thoughts and positivity was practiced by those receiving these, our world would had been a much better place!
  • Then there is a daily exchange of Good Morning pics,  Have a Great Monday pics, Yippee, it’s Friday, Good Night pics… and even Happy Thursday pics!! Who creates all these images??thursday-post-card
  • A friend has subscribed to Santa Banta.com and thus has a never ending supply of jokes to send. Another one sends inspirational messages first thing in the morning. Yeah, such is the dedication to entertain and inspire friends.
  • There are videos of all kinds… inspirational, religious, funny, whacky, weird clips taken from the internet and shared on WhatsApp.
  • Some groups are so active with their chatter that your smartphone’s battery drains as fast as your dog will lick a dish. And the constant messaging tones do not allow you to concentrate on work at hand. For me, muting that group is the only option.
  • Some groups only focus on conversation. For example my husband tells me about his school group. Somebody starts a conversation and everybody types in their 2 cents and the conversation moves in 20 different directions amidst a lot of leg pulling and corny stuff, they all have a good time!
  • Also there are days when somebody initiates a campaign. Campaigns on WhatsApp?… Yes… ‘share pics of your kids’, ‘send pictures of the rangoli or decorations done on Diwali at your home’ or ‘share old pics from school/college’. So, one after the other people in the group dig pictures from their safety deposits. Amidst oohs and aawws, the pics are enjoyed. Of course, they keep eating into the memory of your smartphone, so cleanliness freaks like me love this task of deleting these pictures from the smartphone daily!!
  • There are certain typical characteristics of WhatsApp users… When I hear message beeps one after the other in quick succession. It has to be my sister. When KG sends a message to me on WhatsApp, I respond immediately and then he has to respond back too. I keep looking at the phone as I see ‘KG is typing…’ on my screen. Am wondering all the time what a lengthy message he is sending me. But this ‘KG is typing…’ continues forever. And despite gritting of teeth for umpteen times, I never learn and keep looking at ‘KG is typing…’
  • Edited to add (Thanks Prats for the suggestion) : Aah! The ‘Last seen at….” function of WhatsApp has the power to start a war. It’s a boon when you want to start a war with somebody… here’s how. You send a message to somebody and the other person didn’t respond to your message despite active on WhatsApp much after receiving your message. Pretty simple! And it can be a bane when you are at the receiving end! There’s this joke that thank God WhatsApp doesn’t have the feature of ‘Last seen with..’ Guess, that would be the leading cause of divorces!
  • Last week I decided to detoxify myself from WhatsApp and decided to curb the urge to see my phone every few minutes. And just today, I get a message from a friend, of course on WhatsApp, questioning me about my absence!! Now, when friends call, you have to leave everything and join them, where else… but on WhatsApp.

What’s up on your WhatsApp?

53 Responses

  1. I know what you mean. But Whatsapp is a good tool to stay in touch with friends, but I somehow can just not chat as much. So for me its once in a while usage kinda chat messenger. 🙂

  2. I have Whatsapp on my phone but I hardly ever use it. I am only in one group and when it was newly formed, people kept sending all sorts of forwarded messages, I almost decided to opt out. Did I tell you, I am very anti-social in real life? Ha ha! I never forward any motivational / devotional messages. I never reply to messages which are not personal. I know it is addictive, so many times I switch off my wi-fi. Truth is, wi-fi can really waste a lot of your time, when emails or messages keep popping up, and you are tempted to check them.

  3. I also use whatsapp for staying in touch with my friends & have fun time on it. Lately, I am more attached to it when some special person wants to talk to me. 😉 I can’t help it then. It is hard to control & not reply. 😛

  4. LOL….I use whatsap a lot too..but you know, not in any group or part of any. Regular chat with a couple of friends who moved back to India and sharing my kids’ pics instantly. To stop my addiction, at night, I change status to..”I’m Sleeping..No more messages”…hehehe..hey btw, I am not getting your post notifications…I came here from your FB post.

    1. Wow! Love your status idea! But does that stops your friends from pinging? I have a few friends who never change their status and some have ‘Battery about to die’ or ‘In a meeting’, ‘DND’, all the time!! 😀
      Not getting post notifications?? Where? Your Reader or email? Do let me know, so that I can check it out at my end! Thanks Latha 🙂

      1. Both, Shilpa. My dashboard and email. I haven’t gotten any notification from you after Nov 15th. That’s why, you may not have seen any comments from me in a long time. I subscribed again now. Let us see.

  5. I use whatsapp to talk to dad and hubby mostly. I am not a chat person and I don’t like to chat unless I want to communicate something to a friend. But can understand how addictive it can get.

  6. It is the most used app on my phone too Shilpa, it is the easiest way to stay in touch with friends across time-zones. Thankfully it remains a utility and has not become an addiction 🙂

  7. I’ve never used Whatsapp, and I don’t think I’ll ever use it. Based on what I’ve heard from people who use it, the fact that it’s free results in people sending all kinds of irrelevant messages. Sometimes, this results in important messages not being read on time.

    I fully agree with “I wonder if all these good thoughts and positivity was practiced by those receiving these, our world would had been a much better place!” The truth is, very few people practise what is preached to them. A renowned spiritual speaker once said that most people attend his discourses only to be seen there or because “Swamiji speaks so…o nicely!” His message reaches only a few of the attendees, and only a few among those few try to put his preaching into practice! In my opinion, the same holds for ‘Self-help’ books. Most people read books by Robin Sharma, Paulo Coelho, etc., etc. only so they can quote these authors or at least say they’ve read their works.

    1. I know what you mean, PI. Sometimes, important messages are missed under a barrage of silly forward jokes. But that happens mostly in groups where all the people keep pinging one after the other!
      True, most of us read the inspiring quotes to read and think about it for a while and then forget all about it!! 😛

    1. Was there a Whatsapp contest on Indiblogger? I guess, it was on WeChat.
      Yes, it is nice way to be in touch and I like sending pics, voice messages options which is so cool and easy!

  8. Very interesting post. My children presented me a Samsung Galaxy phone last month. I find it quite complicated, but now I am able to use Whats Apps and Viber. I use it very sparingly,as I am not very well acquainted with it. Yes I get so many jokes of Santa and Banta.

  9. i reactivated it recently when my husband was on an overseas trip, it was useful when i could get updates from him when he was hopping from one place to another otherwise i keep it deactivated. Yes, jokes and other inspiring and motivating stories are shared, but i keep away from them. there is so much too read but so little time.

  10. Whatspp has kind of become an addiction. All of you listed most of it applies to me as well.

    Can’t believe you didn’t mention “Last seen at functionality” 😀

    1. How could I forget that?? Edited to add about the ‘Last seen at’ feature. Thanks for reminding about that! 😀

  11. hehehe
    I echo what all u told 😀
    I recently faced the brunt of whats app as I walked out of a family group and had to give a reason *Hush hush* just between us 😛
    I had to join back. IS there a muting option. Need to check. How ever I heard abt the battery dying from all but I phone has strong battery I guess. Never faced that issue !!

    Whats apping is so common that a carpentar asked if we hav whats app to send some foto on it 😀
    There are so many whats app expriences that may I shud write a post too. LOL :mrgreen:

    A trendy post shilpa. Liked it

    1. Yes, you can mute a group. The constant incoming messages and their notifications drain a lot of battery power. I know, everybody uses it now-a-days. We were looking for puppies of a particular breed and the breeder said that he will send the pics on WhatsApp! 😆
      You must share your experiences 🙂

    1. Oh, general groups like the one you mentioned can be very challenging. Have never been a part of such groups. It is only family and friends for me!

  12. I have recently begun to use Whats App.. but find it rather infuriating when people expect an immediate response 😛
    Btw loved the part where you said you recognize who the message is from by the number of beeps, unknowingly I have begun doing that too 😛

    1. I know what you mean, Seeta. And actually, the ‘last seen at’ feature is the culprit. With other messaging services you can say that you saw the message pretty late hence the delay in reverting. But with this ‘last seen at’ thing, you know that the person was active on WhatsApp even after receiving your message. 😛

  13. Oh yes whatsApp is a pet peeve of mine. And as you said I cannot even withdraw from the groups. Honestly I find most of those forwarded jokes so boring…. Except Santa Banta.. They still manage to draw out a few laughs.. Other than that it’s either boring and overly sappy… But I’m stuck!

    1. I can relate to your situation. I have muted some groups, so I have the choice to be a sleeping partner in the group and am free from the chatter too. True, the same jokes are forwarded from one person to the other. But I am amazed at the speed with which the new jokes are created on current affairs! 😀

  14. I’ve been using WhatsApp from some time and I love it except for the fact that it shows others your last seen time which is annoying at times when you’ve read someone’s message but don’t have something to reply. I prefer not replying than messaging back Umm or Hmm or Ahahah 😛

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