Here I am back with a post after numerous failed attempts to write a new post. The timing and intent of this post have coincided beautifully.
Ever since I left Facebook,joined twitter and became active on WhatsApp I have had the burning desire to write on this most popular messaging app now owned by fb owner Mark Stalker Zuckerberg.
Let me come straight to the point. The intent of WhatsApp founders was to build an alternative social text messaging platform that would combine the simplicity and brief points of text messaging on phones with the limitless possibilities of internet based social network and the result has been phenomenal. From reluctant starters to social networking geeks all the like minded and unlikely friends have become members of WhatsApp chatrooms called groups and the result has been the exchange of limitless messages,photos and videos among willing and unwilling receivers of these groups.
I became a member of one of those groups run by a dear revered friend of mine by chance and not by choice as is the norm in whatsapp. You don't join a group,you are added and you have a choice to leave or a chance to be kicksd out. Typical of the times we live in.
From mere customary greetings in morning,afternoon and evening it grew in to a place of shared humour,shared anger and redicule which I was actively part of on a platform of 100 people, 80 percent of whom are passive members. This all happened in past 15 days.
Then I decided to use this platform for my first social experiment on a live social platform after a long night of a lovely debate involving me,my dear friend- the admin of the group and a couple of others in the group.
Then Yesterday for the purpose of experiencing real time social anger,happiness and people's reaction I shared some really silly and dated puzzless of which a nursery kid would know the answer.
The result as expected was asking me why was I posting such stupid puzzles. After that I started a really awful and unnecessary arguments on standard of the group I am participating in and went to the extent of questioning the credibility of group admin and the reaction not so surprisingly was to leave the group if I am uncomfortable with it.
That proved right. The pleasures and perils of WhatsApp are equally disturbing. You can be a popular massager, a standup comedian, a fool, an over intelligent idiot and an arrogant self appointed defender of values you believe in, all at the same time.
This is stalker's paradise where you know who has read your messages and who hasn't. Most of the times you judge people as per the stalking report given by WhatsApp and not by your conscience as is the norm in a civilised educated society.
In a span of 10 to 15 days I got a topic to write on my blog after having been part of a thousand odd messages. The lessons may be alarming but the reality check says that the stalking paradise is here to stay whether you like it or not. If WhatsApp closes down tomorrow something else will take its place. Just like Orkut and MySpace were killed by Facebook and which in turn is being beaten by twitter and other short messaging apps and networks.
I'll end with a chandamama story in which a demon's life was in the heart of a bird that was caged and kept in a deep well guarded by other demons. The queen was taken by the demon and to rescue her, our hero - the king had to fight the guardians of the deep well, take out the cage and kill the bird to kill the demon. The context of this story here is to show how our lives are controlled by social networks and emails which in turn are put in a handheld phone out of which we access them. All our contacts and communication with people are controlled by a smartphone and the absence of it causes anxiety in us...Let's get better than the demon. We are humans and deserve better.
PS: I typed the whole thing in my favourite smartphone :)
Ever since I left Facebook,joined twitter and became active on WhatsApp I have had the burning desire to write on this most popular messaging app now owned by fb owner Mark Stalker Zuckerberg.
Let me come straight to the point. The intent of WhatsApp founders was to build an alternative social text messaging platform that would combine the simplicity and brief points of text messaging on phones with the limitless possibilities of internet based social network and the result has been phenomenal. From reluctant starters to social networking geeks all the like minded and unlikely friends have become members of WhatsApp chatrooms called groups and the result has been the exchange of limitless messages,photos and videos among willing and unwilling receivers of these groups.
I became a member of one of those groups run by a dear revered friend of mine by chance and not by choice as is the norm in whatsapp. You don't join a group,you are added and you have a choice to leave or a chance to be kicksd out. Typical of the times we live in.
From mere customary greetings in morning,afternoon and evening it grew in to a place of shared humour,shared anger and redicule which I was actively part of on a platform of 100 people, 80 percent of whom are passive members. This all happened in past 15 days.
Then I decided to use this platform for my first social experiment on a live social platform after a long night of a lovely debate involving me,my dear friend- the admin of the group and a couple of others in the group.
Then Yesterday for the purpose of experiencing real time social anger,happiness and people's reaction I shared some really silly and dated puzzless of which a nursery kid would know the answer.
The result as expected was asking me why was I posting such stupid puzzles. After that I started a really awful and unnecessary arguments on standard of the group I am participating in and went to the extent of questioning the credibility of group admin and the reaction not so surprisingly was to leave the group if I am uncomfortable with it.
That proved right. The pleasures and perils of WhatsApp are equally disturbing. You can be a popular massager, a standup comedian, a fool, an over intelligent idiot and an arrogant self appointed defender of values you believe in, all at the same time.
This is stalker's paradise where you know who has read your messages and who hasn't. Most of the times you judge people as per the stalking report given by WhatsApp and not by your conscience as is the norm in a civilised educated society.
In a span of 10 to 15 days I got a topic to write on my blog after having been part of a thousand odd messages. The lessons may be alarming but the reality check says that the stalking paradise is here to stay whether you like it or not. If WhatsApp closes down tomorrow something else will take its place. Just like Orkut and MySpace were killed by Facebook and which in turn is being beaten by twitter and other short messaging apps and networks.
I'll end with a chandamama story in which a demon's life was in the heart of a bird that was caged and kept in a deep well guarded by other demons. The queen was taken by the demon and to rescue her, our hero - the king had to fight the guardians of the deep well, take out the cage and kill the bird to kill the demon. The context of this story here is to show how our lives are controlled by social networks and emails which in turn are put in a handheld phone out of which we access them. All our contacts and communication with people are controlled by a smartphone and the absence of it causes anxiety in us...Let's get better than the demon. We are humans and deserve better.
PS: I typed the whole thing in my favourite smartphone :)
