The Burning Desire to dump Whatsapp

Reading Time: 4 minutes
Today I went for a long hike after going for a long bike ride yesterday. I am pretty tired. I shared three photos that were directly relevant to a group’s activities and they were deleted. I wouldn’t mind, if they were not linked to the community, and to an activity organised by the person that invited us to do this activity. I do mind, when it was relevant to that organiser, but also to the community.

No GDPR Compliance

There is something wrong with whatsapp and how people use it. For a start none of these Whatsapp groups are gdpr compliant. Within these groups we could harvest thousands of numbers, private photos and more. That’s not what worries me the most though.

Dubious Ownership

Part of what worries me is that Whatsapp is owned by Facebook, and that Facebook has a monopoly on social interactions. In my eyes we should have dumped FB, and all related products as soon as the Cambridge Analtytica scandal broke.

A Social Messaging Platform

For me, and people from my internet vintage social media is an instant messaging platform, for conversations and more, in between meetings IRL. For me sharing photos that show the conditions on a walk is positive, because it allows people to see whether to expect snow, mud, flowers, and the hiking goats. For me Whatsapp and related apps are for conversations. They are instant messaging/SMS/MMS replacements. Their entire raison d’être is to be social, to connect people.

Whatsapp Communities

Whatsapp has tools to create communities, and within communities you can create topics and sub-topics. You can have a topic for events, another for sharing photos, a third for conversing. You could have a community where people can converse if they want to, be updated about events, and more. It’s paradoxical that the same people that want to destroy all conversation, aren’t taking the time to think of how to maximise tool use. There are opportunities, if only the luddites would open their eyes.

Repeated Friction

It’s not that this happened, once, or twice, or even three times. It is that this happens regularly. A Whatsapp group is created, a community grows, and then people can only share very specific things or content gets deleted.

Lurking

I don’t know about you but when I join a Whatsapp group it is to converse. It is not to lurk. For me a Whatsapp group should be driven by a desire to converse about recent hikes, conditions encountered and future projects. If a group is only for people to lurk, then I see no value in the group. I, in turn, see no value in Whatsapp.

Introverts and Extroverts

The world is biased against introverts. Today I could go for a hike with 7 people, via meetup, or a hike with 24 people, via Whatsapp. I chose the smaller group because as an introvert a large group is not a pleasure to be in. In a large group the extroverts will hog the conversation, and introverts will walk in silence, in solitude.

"Je préfère être seul que mal accompagné" sums it up. I’d rather be on a solitary hike, than with the wrong group. In a large group extroverts benefit, and introverts disappear.

In an ideal world, physical meetings, would then move online, and introverts could be more social, more conversational, more connected, less isolated.

Some groups just say "avoid chit chat". Others automatically block group conversations once an event is over. This means that conversations are no longer possible. This means that if you are not an extrovert that instantly connects with people, you are ostracied.

That’s why I didn’t go on the hike with 24 people today. That’s why I prefer small, more intimate groups. A group of four to eight people is good. Both the hike today, and the bike ride yesterday were small. In a small group you get to chat with everyone.

In a large group you listen to charismatic extroverts, and there is no value in that. If I am hiking I’d rather be in a small group. In a small group there is a sense of community.

The Fediverse as the Rational Alternative

The solution is staring me in the face. The solution is the Fediverse. My blog is on the Fediverse. My description on Whatsapp points to my site/blog. It’s absurd to look for community in a place that has no desire to be an online community. It makes sense to take a utilitarian attitude to Whatsapp, and to phase it out completely.

I Pivoted

Although I write this, tired from a very active weekend my dependence on Whatsapp and GoSocial is now greatly diminished. In the last two or three weeks I have joined a cycling community, I have been granted admin privilieges to create hikes, and if I really wanted to I could organise Via Ferrata and other adventures with another group.

I would love to find a chat on WhatsApp or Signal but every time I try I hit a wall. Hitting that wall continually has an emotional cost. I am tired of paying that cost.

A Fantastic Weekend

This weekend I cycled 120 kilometres on Saturday, and met some people. Today I hiked from Montreux to the Dent De Jaman. That’s almost 1500 meters of climbing in Just 8 kilometres. That’s with a moving time of two and a half hours. I met people I would like to meet again, and I didn’t require Whatsapp.

Within three weeks I pivoted to groups, which, I feel, more closely reflect my values. As I don’t like Whatsapp, I have pivoted to a solution I find more rational.