Ever since Whatsapp arrived , the world has changed....at least for some.We discovered long lost friends.We met people whom we had not met in many many years . And then one ( not so ) fine day whatsapp groups came into existence ......
Initially the group concept felt nice . You felt you belonged....one could address many people at the same time . But slowly the group posts started consisting of mindless , senseless , sometimes tasteless forwards. ,jokes , good morning / good night messages , pictures , quotes,...Real problem started when the group size increased from 50 to 100 . Imagine a group of 50+ people ...each of them sending a joke , a GM/GN message,a quote daily . frankly speaking who has time to read all this ...on a daily basis ? ( And if we all know this , why do we still do it ? )
This brings , to my mind , the haunting question - who are the creative geniuses behind these posts- some well written , others idiotic , good and tasteless jokes , poems forwarded , many a times without giving credit to the poet and obviously without permission. Is this a full time profession ? ( What do you do ? - Oh ..I write posts for whatsapp ! ) Is there any money involved ? etc etc...
Okay....enough about the senseless present nature of these posts.... Let me tell you what I would like to read on a whatsapp group chat....
First of all , I feel the groups should be smallish...where people can communicate with each other.( I know ...an impractical suggestion ! ) but the number of posts would be then readable.
Secondly , no senseless forwards...instead why not share your experiences ?....about your journey , your life learning , how you reached where you are now. Most of us are in our forties...successful , settled , happy....Yet we were not always so.Each of us has gone through failures and rejections....But that is what made us what we are today. Some of us may have changed careers , started learning something new , started some new ventures... If we can share this , it would be certainly interesting and a learning experience for others. Also there are interesting people we meet during our normal working day ,some interesting anecdotes , we could share these.
Of-course this is possible only in a friend's group ....where people are comfortable with each other....
You can share quotes but share why they appeal to you...if there is a story , even better.....
For those who find this a big , daunting task , you can just tell which book you are reading , any interesting movie / play / concert you watched / attended , any good music you have heard recently....
This will hardly take a moment. ( some may like to review these for the group...most welcome...but as I said , not absolutely necessary...)
I would love to have debates and discussions on the group , provided that we do not hurt sentiments of other people..... We are friends , right ? and if we can not debate witth friend , then with whom should we debate ? It is always interesting to hear a totally opposite point of view , it opens up our mind ....
But the disadvantages of whatsapp remain- it takes away ' me-time ' and family time...we must use it wisely and first we should stop all these mindless forwards...
Let's all try this...only then we would know pros and cons....even better solutions will arise when we will be aware of problems...I am sure , we can use whatsapp constructively ....
Please note :-- These are my views and opinions...you may or may not share them...
If you agree...good !
If you don't.....even better....
I would be interested to know your point of view.....
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