5 Ways WhatsApp Is Eating Into Your Productivity; A Reflection

First there was the SMS. Then came BBM. Both these services enjoyed great success when they were launched. BBM had almost a cult-like status. People didn’t say “Send me a message”. They said “BBM me”.

Now they say “WhatsApp me”. WhatsApp has become the face of messaging, at least in India. It has become the de-facto standard of the messaging world.

The popularity of WhatsApp has exploded over the past few years and is showing no signs of relenting. As of February 2017, India has 200 million active users on WhatsApp. That’s 200 million people using WhatsApp in their daily lives!

Nothing has been able to match the popularity of WhatsApp so far, not even Apple’s iMessage! Understandable, since it is bound by its ecosystem.

But other messaging alternatives like Hike or Viber, which are freely available on Play Store, have come nowhere near the success achieved by WhatsApp.

Now that we have established the popularity and indispensability of WhatsApp, let us take a look at its dark side. Yes, as with every good thing, WhatsApp has a bad side to it. It is only fair that everybody is aware of both.

1. The Compulsion To Respond

Sure, WhatsApp is primarily a communication tool. So whenever, the notification pings, the hand automatically reaches towards the phone. No matter what you are doing.

This is distracting, especially if you are in a meeting. Not to mention the bad reputation you’ll be earning by checking your phone repeatedly while in a meeting.

2. The ‘Blue Tick’ Monster

WhatsApp has some nifty features which help ease communication between two parties. ‘Blue Ticks’ is one of them. It means the message is read by the receiver.

When the blue ticks appear and no response is received, it sometimes leads to misunderstandings. Precious time is wasted in speculations.

3. Spamming

How many times have you received a ‘Chain’ message urging you to forward it for good luck? And how bad luck would befall you if you break the chain!

Irony, thy name is WhatsApp! Using a modern communication tool to spread silly superstitions! What a waste of time!

4. Group Messaging

Again, this is a blatant misuse of a feature introduced for those occasions when it is necessary for a communication to reach a group of people.

Nowadays, WhatsApp groups have become more of places to forward jokes and to show off. While we agree that WhatsApp group feature has its uses, 95% messages received on such groups are spam and jokes.

5. Unwanted Advertising

This could be by far the worst use of WhatsApp. Receiving unwanted messages advertising unwanted products and services just ruins the day.

What’s worse is that there is no feature like DND on WhatsApp! The only remedy for this is blocking such numbers. But that takes up precious time and the advertisers just change their numbers.

To Conclude…

These are 5 major pain-points which all of us have to suffer for using WhatsApp. Have any of you ever tried going off WhatsApp? Let us know your story and your experience. Do you agree with our list? Sound off in the comments below.