this is a continuation from the topic on WhatsApp group chats. some groups are really really huge.. so much so more often than not someone’s input might be less impactful than the others or some might think his/her role in the group chat is not to say something new or create a new discussions. these people rarely reply and even when they reply, it is probably because they get something out of it. i call them phantom members of group chats. what would they normally do?
well, for starters they would always stay in the group chat and use it only for their own convenience. on normal times, they would simply open the group chat to rid the push notifications and probably skim through whatever is said in the chat. they would not respond to any general queries raised but another member of the group chat. they would not put their opinions and suggestions. they would not care about any outing organised. they would not bother much about whatever is said or done in the group chat so long as they do not benefit from the outcome.
so when will they pop up?
these phantoms will pop up when they have trivial and maybe lame requests such as seeking popular votes for some random online contests. these phantoms will pop up when they need you with some project survey. these phantoms will pop up when they seek someone’s help in desperate times.
well, for me personally, whenever such things arise, i would avoid. i will not contribute to your popular vote. i will not help you with you survey. i will just hope someone else will help you resolve your problem. haha hold the thought of me being a bad friend for a moment and allow me to explain before you judge. well, to me such phantom participants just use the group chats as a convenience chat. like they use you when you are needed and ignore you during any other times. if you like that or are okay with that then yeah to you i am an asshole. however, for me i dislike being treated this way and hence why i do that.
that being said, of course i am not a phantom in any group chat. i love the company and what not. well i’ve not really talk about the good stuff of such groups. i shall do one the next time.
well, this is a continuation on the previous topic on WhatsApp groups. you know, being in such groups is somewhat similar to real life social gathering in terms of the “obligations” and “etiquette” one has to uphold whenever he/she participate in the chats. such complications are probably more broad than those we actually experience in real life. i guess i cannot cover all but i sure will highlight some and input my opinions. well, like i said.. opinions. i’m neither right nor wrong. they are just opinions.
number one, the spamming of pictures. pictures here can be further broken down to memes and groups shots. let’s visit group shots first then. i guess it is somewhat a norm now.. to actually send photos through those WhatsApp groups when an outing is over. i don’t know about you all but there was a time when i waited for the “photographer” to put those pictures on Facebook and not using my phone data to download those from WhatsApp groups. nonetheless, both works well for me. as for memes, here is probably something to be careful about. it is sort of an unspoken thing that you can communicate through memes. yes.. mock and pock fun with them now and then but spamming them might not be a good idea. likewise for sharing of memes, too many a one shot is definitely not a good idea.
number two, talking about serious topics. serious topics here do not mean those serious political news or what not. i refer to those discussions about group related stuffs. well it is awkward to interrupt i guess. say someone pops up a discussion and subsequently some others put in their inputs and what not. the discussion has not really end and someone else decide to pop another discussion. soon afterwards more do the same. then suddenly the entire group chat is filled with many discussions at any one time. those who are quiet would then be stuck and conflicted.. not knowing what he/she should reply first and what not.
number three, topics involving few individuals. now and then a topic will pop up that concerns not all the participants. then we will have the same few people who are chatting among themselves. or in worse case scenario, just two talking in a group chat. by then one would not be sure if he/she should stop talking about that particular topic or just go ahead and add an additional WhatsApp group for the “special” people. well, so complicated.. haha.
number four, leaving the party early. say you want to be out of the group chat because of whatever reason, you are not sure if you should leave and what not. you see, WhatsApp will announce whoever have left the party early by displaying your number or name in the group chat, informing your departure. well, this might create wrong impressions of the person leaving on the minds of people in the group who have saw the kind reminder from WhatsApp. more often than not maybe everyone would just suck it up and just hang around. maybe standing alone in the party is nicer than leaving the party early.
well.. by far i think those mentioned complications are the common ones to me and of course there are definitely more of them out there haha.. it can be entertaining to actually pick them out now and then. cheap thrills.
ever since i entered into NUS.. the number of group WhatsApp chats have increased exponentially. yeah you read that right.. exponentially. before university life, the number of such groups i have can literally be counted with just one hand. now, there are really like millions of them. haha.. no but really too many for my own good at times i think. okay, partly because such groups can pop out for any reasons possible. OG group chat. project group chat. module buddies chat. clique chat. family chat. CCA group chat. and probably many more that i can’t exactly think of right now.
even mini events would lead to new group chats being formed. like “hey someone’s birthday is coming soon, time to organise a surprise and get a gift” then poof a new group chat is form without the birthday person in it.
well thing is there are so many group chats now that i decided to mute all of them (of course, not the family one) for couple of reasons. one, save battery. those vibrations and what not kills my iphone battery life like i kill my home chocolate ice-cream. two, distracting. those vibration and what not can be really distracting whenever one is trying to pay attention on the primary tasks he/she has at hand. all in all i rather myself muting all chats and reading all unread group messages one shot whenever i am free.
yeah, some of you might argue what if someone posted a time-urgent request and what not? well, if you are that urgent in the matter and in need of a specific someone for help just call him or private message him/her. at least for me, i know i will get back to you as soon as possible even if i missed your call or what not. come on, i mentioned before.. things i would do for a good friend. my phone isn’t on silent when i sleep in case of emergency calls from whoever. of course, my internet is off though so yeah.
i realised i have really a lot of things to talk about WhatsApp groups. so i guess i will have to split it into numerous blog posts. this is just a overview and general remarks.
