We Indians seem to be not tired at all in sending Good Morning messages. I was watching a show, where they talked about these GM messages slowing down the internet and they went on to say our population helps in adding to the problem
We have plenty of people typically new comers to the internet keen to share the knowledge which they have just gained as enthusiastically as only they could be. On top of it these are the people who are part of family groups or their own Alumni groups. They have so much of time the limit of 5 forwards per turn is just not a deterrent.
While it is easy to blame them for slowing down the internet, we have to look at their compulsions for doing what they are doing.
They are typically reached a state of mind of a retiree and are finding lots of time at their disposal.
They have moved away from a routine and need to occupy themselves with activity
Smart phone makes their life easier to connect with people
Calling may not be an option as they don't know what the other person is doing
Reading as a habit has died down
TV is dominated by the lady of the house
As we get, we forward, we are so confident that what our friend has just shared is the absolute truth and most believable news. Our confidence in what we receive makes us forget that February has typically 28 days and all days come four times a month and stupidly think it comes only once in 823 years. Common sense be koi cheese hai bhai
Many of us are not aware of the rules framed under the IT Act and innocently forward fake news too, putting ourselves in the danger of being punished for our probable innocence.
Based on the community, we have now designed ‘message for the day’ Starting from Monday till Sunday with a God’s image/symbol added to the well designed message. You can be rest assured these are forwarded with impunity and needless compulsion.
Thanks to the developers of messaging platforms like WhatsApp we have disappearing messages just to ensure chat thread is cleaned up on regular basis. Due to these needless forwards many an admin is forced to set the group with disappearing messages. Only con is we might miss out on important communication as they too get disappeared.
Family groups which have a mixture of age groups have a different kind of problem. If they restrict forwards, compulsive people feel suffocated, what remains is the greetings for birthdays and anniversaries. An admins job becomes very delicate in such situations as it is family after all.
If we dont forward will we miss out on something, absolutely nothing, we feel keeping in touch is posting good morning messages. No that is not true, we can find many ways to share information as to how we manage a day.
We could talk about our family and encourage other to do so
We could share the joy of good tidings within the family and get friends to respond
We could exchange meaningful banter based on the closeness with the other person
Avoid topics on politics and religion in a group as all of us may not share the same ideology
Alert friends about how a neighbour/self got cheated in the ‘online’ age and how they could learn from this experience
Encourage the silent to express (they choose to be silent when there is too much of junk shared)
Puzzles/riddles are a good way to engage all age groups, they respond too
Talk about your activity and how you keep yourself engaged this could motivate others to emulate
Ensure short communication to make it easy to read and comprehend, avoid long stories
Share jokes not pictures (cartoons), pictures occupy larger space in the recipient’s phone
Vulgarity, abuse is avoidable in all groups
We have to make it a habit of the following:
Sending Good Morning messages is not the only way to tell your friends that you are alive and kicking
Forwards are not a measure of your intelligence or social commitment, so avoid forwarding everything and anything
Cross check the news/incident/event before you forward
You can ‘react’ instead of ‘replying’ to messages which you receive, saves space
Spread cheer instead of sorrow/grief
Ji, let us stop slowing down the internet, let us improve our bonding with family & friends, Trust this effort of mine will make at least one person change his messaging habit.
Cheers n bye
