Why I left WhatsApp
I feel like every time I document a lifestyle change through a write-up, I'm gloating over a supposed spiritual revelation which is actually commonplace. But if that be the case, at least I can take comfort in my self-awareness of it.
Now to the revelation (but not really). WhatsApp isn't good for you. I know, I know. "Don't blame the tool, blame the irresponsible user", blah, blah, blah. But if the shortcomings of something outweigh the positives, is it really useful? If the service benefits from certain human weaknesses and common harmful impulses, can it even be labelled as a value neutral "tool"?
Here's my side to the same. It's been a little more than three years since I acquired a phone, which has gradually come to mean a simultaneous initiation to WhatsApp. Initially, I had been very aware of the possibility of falling prey to its addictive clutches as many had before me. But I still continued just like those characters in film who declare they will not do something in one scene, and are comically depicted doing just that in the next one.
Unfortunately, it didn't feel so comical in real life. Practically, the only interest I nurtured, that is, reading, slowly faded after the initiation to this messaging service. My focus began to deteriorate. Often, I'd habitually tap the app icon to check for new messages with growing frequency within the hour. Sometimes, when I'd pick up my phone for a purpose other than checking WhatsApp, I'd nevertheless get distracted by its notifications popping on my screen. When my parents suggested that I switch off my phone and try to put it away for a couple of hours, the mere thought was unsettling. I realise that it sounds a bit dramatic worded like this. But once such actions start slipping into your muscle memory, they don't feel odd or obsessive.
Cut to my existence a few weeks back when I sat updating my resume. Glancing at the section titled "hobbies", it suddenly hit me that I was just doing the bare minimum I was required to as a student, and killing all remaining free time on my phone. All identity markers that manifest in the form of creative pursuits had gradually ebbed. I felt less like myself, or the idea I'd held about myself over the years anyway.
After mulling over the idea of deactivating WhatsApp over time, it was only recently that I went through with it. Sometimes, unthinking, I still tap the spot where WhatsApp previously nestled on my phone screen, and feel surprised when I see the opening logo of another app. But on the positive side, I am not only managing well without it, but have also made concrete attempts to revive more constructive interests.
To make this sound less like the before and after narrative of a tele-marketing product, it may help to offer snippets from similar reported experiences. Of course, there exist extreme examples of its impact — a man killing his wife due to her increased and unrelenting use of WhatsApp, or a WhatsApp group admin being stabbed after he removed a member (both in 2018). However, this BuzzFeed article hits closer home.
The author discusses how the demise of his maternal grandmother left his mother with a "vacuum" that she sought to fill with the almost perpetual barrage of chain messages on WhatsApp.
"Soon, my mother was spending half a dozen hours each day glued to her dinky Android phone, blasting her WhatsApp groups with forwards, and watching almost every GIF and video she received."
Unable to keep up with responding to the incessant shower of messages, the author resorted to not answering with even an emoji. This, his father reported, had been taken as a "personal affront" by his mother who claimed to be "emotionally invested in WhatsApp".
He further explores this obsession through other real life accounts as do other write-ups available online. So you get the gist. But what are those negatively affected willing to do about it on a personal level?
Taking account of the number of registered Indians on the app, a statistical study from February 2017 "announced more than 200 million monthly active users in the country". WhatsApp continues to expand its reach and increase its worth as a result of the "networking effect" — when the value of a system of communication grows as more people participate in its usage.
I don't expect to see a decline in the same anytime soon, what with offices and institutional groups requiring your presence on it; also a possible reason for the future reactivation of my account. But it's up to each one to find loopholes within this seemingly watertight structure. One remedy off the top of my head can be to acquire a separate phone sim to maintain an account devoted only to official communication.
The solutions may turn out to be numerous if desired. But the singular aim is to not lose yourself within the dopamine-induced cycle of seeking results and experiencing instant gratification, as in this case, through the sending and receiving of messages.
A measure as extreme as the complete discontinuation of the service is not what I'm proposing here. But given the situation created by WhatsApp, perhaps the first logical response should be to take a step back and reconsider the virulent effects of this service.
Also read: 20 years on, how I imagine the world looks to Harry Potter