How Are You Surviving Without WhatsApp?

It is incredible how ingrained WhatsApp has become in most of our lives. Since I uninstalled the app a couple of months ago, I've been met with shocked responses. "How do you function without it?" "How are you surviving?" etc.

Fact of the matter is, I am surviving precisely because I don't have WhatsApp anymore. The app is not the problem, to be fair. It is how most of us use it. Whatever semblance of personal space was present prior to WhatsApp, has dissolved entirely after it.

"But how do you communicate?"

Exactly how I used to, before WhatsApp. i.e. Email. Text message. Phone call. If you're of the opinion that professional communication is easier on WhatsApp, check yourself. You're probably exacerbating someone's mental health issues.

For professional communication, if it is urgent & important, call me. If you don't have my phone number, it cannot possibly be urgent and / or important. If you've waited till the eleventh hour to get in touch with a stranger (me) for work, I'm not interested in working with you.

For literally everything else, professionally, there's email. It leaves a trail, which I'm keen to have on record. I was once asked to share a PDF invoice on WhatsApp. I was a bit shocked but I did. The employee quit before I was paid & there was no trail of the discussion.

Personally, I've complained about people passing on their inefficiencies to me via muddled, eleventh hour communication. WhatsApp has made this worse. A WhatsApp message from a stranger at 6 am on a Sunday said, "Please be on time for the launch party today."

"WhatsApping is easier than sending an email."

No. It is not. It is literally the same amount of effort. Open app, search person, type message / email, hit send.

Life without WhatsApp is possible. It is peaceful. Indirectly, it signals to the other party that you are to be taken seriously ;)