“Good morning, I just had a hot cup of coffee.” “Good night, my daughter said her first vowel today.” The conversations on WhatsApp groups range from the mundane to the bizarre to the ridiculous. While some people are admins on five different WhatsApp groups, others hate WhatsApp groups so much, they have left each of the groups they have been added to. The instant messaging service has permeated our lives so much, that even though you may not be on WhatsApp, there isn’t a conversation in which WhatsApp groups aren’t discussed.
“I find the conversations on WhatsApp groups annoying!” says Preeti A. “I wake up everyday to see spam messages fill my WhatsApp, and it’s mostly banter or pointless forwards. There are random ‘have a great morning’ messages. And as people get upset if someone leaves a group, I have muted most of the groups. It’s just too time consuming.”
Author Nandita Bose gives a more balanced view. “Friends groups are usually fun and a great way of sharing news and keeping track of activities and each other. Issues crop up when there are large groups of unrelated people united by just one aspect. Often I wake up to 100+ messages, half of them ‘inspirational’ videos!”
Meenakshi, a physiotherapist, says WhatsApp group conversations stress her out. “Just waking up in the morning and seeing 91 unread messages is enough to unhinge anyone.” Kafeel Jafri, a theatre artiste from Bangalore says, “If you have time and nothing better to do, it is fun. Otherwise, they are annoying. I am on a school WhatsApp group which I keep on mute because the discussion ranges from what some guy did in fourth standard or how some girl rejected some boy to heated arguments for and against Modi to ISIS.”
Vivek (name changed), a copywriter, says he finds most conversations on WhatsApp groups useful. “I am not on Facebook, so I find WhatsApp a convenient way to keep in touch with friends and family. I am on two work-related groups. I am on my apartment WhatsApp group. Then are the office group, my son’s school group, close friend group, family group. Some of it is fun. I find my son’s school group the most convenient. I get information on when the school fees need to be paid, about the timings of the school bus, etc. I have also seen cases in which people have got jobs through WhatsApp groups.” But he adds the pitfalls of being on too many groups. “I once sent an inappropriate joke to my family group by mistake!” he laughs.
Kafeel says the quality of WhatsApp group conversations depend on the kind of members there are. “It depends on how much members adhere to the objective with which the group was created. I am part of the dastangoi team under Mahmood Farooqui, and there are about 20 to 25 people on that group. And their objective is to inform the entire team about the latest updates about dastangoi. If there are any articles on a performance or some people from the group are performing somewhere.”
But WhatsApp for all its convenience can never replace the essence of face-to-face interactions. No real connections are formed. And people can hide behind emoticons and smileys, without having to risk rejection or not being agreed with. Meenakshi agrees and says: “Why is it that group conversations are only forwards, when face-to-face and even on email, you can have perfectly normal conversations.”
Kafeel says Whatsapp conversations are for the most part, superficial. “Whenever personal touch with people gets diminished, the emotional value of those relationships also goes down. Most of the time, it’s just an obligation to reply to messages on WhatsApp, and the person may not be fully involved but is forced to respond. So, the entire relationship with the person or the group becomes superficial.”
