Let Me Go! How to Get off Unwanted Annoying WhatsApp Chat Groups for Good

Introduction

There was a time not long ago, when we dreamt of talking to everyone at the same time, our cherished friends, former classmates, friends and families, and even people we have met who share the same passion. I remember those days not so long ago, I was still in school. It was the days of penpals (that's writing letters) - and yes I wrote a lot of letters to friends all over the world, and of course, used the (landline) telephone to whomever I could afford to connect with. Conversing down the telephone line was limited to just you and the other person.

The dream of talking to everyone at the same time was still far off, and the closest experience came first through email, for those who could not afford conference calls. As quickly as it became exciting - yes, this is Nerdville, it became quite annoying with having to read so many email 'chains' and trawling thru everyone's response.

Do you still remember those bloody email chain letters - usually about some ridiculous health warnings scares or funny sex jokes?

The mobile telephone came into our lives like shooting stars, it seemed unbelievable at that time, and then VOIP (voice over internet protocol) and conference calling (three or more callers talk together on the 'same line' - group calling). Things really sped up with IRC, MSN messenger, Friendster and then Facebook with social media and cross-platform messaging, especially when the smartphone came round.

It Was Love!

I fell in love with WhatsApp. I could talk to anyone without worrying about my mobile phone bill or being glued to the desktop. I can talk the way I want to be, make jokes and nurture the opinionated yet fun-loving person inside of. Whilst others were stuck with BBM (blackberry) or Viber or Kik or Snapchat (yes the list could go on) or even the Chinese WeChat, I remained faithful to WhatsApp, I was a true blue WhatsApp-er.

Actually, to be precise, I would say I was a true green WhatsApp-er.

The ease in creating many various conversations groups at an instant brought a constant sense of euphoria, which I can only compare to an arsonist's first experience with his cigarette lighter! Like many others, I created so many WhatsApp chat groups based on interests and passions, for work-groups, circle of gossipers… I mean 'news-mongerers', networkers, even designated task-groups and of course, for the different circles of friends and family.

It was beautiful to see the way the group dynamics change when someone new is added into the group, everyone adjusts to every new personality like adding new colors to an artist’s palette.

In the beginning, you considered yourself special by your friends etc. to be added to their group. It was sacrilege to leave a group without saying anything.

I joined the different schools and colleges reunion WhatsApp chat groups. I must have been on at least 50 WhatsApp group chats. At that time, I saw that the only limitation with WhatsApp was that the number of people you could add in any one group at that time, was no more than 30 people. Of course, now you can add up to 100 people to any one group.

Living Without Living

Life without the smartphone was difficult. Family mealtimes were silent from each other and yet everyone was vibrantly staring (and giggling) at their phone screens. You couldn't meet a friend for coffee without many interruptions, entertaining our own phones instead of the very person(s) who is physically in front of us. The funny thing was that I always wondered if it would have been better not to meet up in the first place, and just simply chat through our phones.

The Pattern

I began to notice other patterns. The recycling of jokes, stories, special messages from interest groups such as religious groups, memes, intrusive porn and other inappropriate photos. Everybody was racing to post whatever was forwarded to them. In one particular WhatsApp group, there was a serious mismatch of everything. The conversation theme would change so rapidly from soul-searching to religion and of course, to politics and somehow it would eventually turn to gutter language and the depravity of obscenities. The same person(s) in the group could be churning out conservative political and/or religious views and within the same hour be forwarding porn, both hetero and homosexual orientated porn! Contradicting traits. Perhaps the ambiguity is our true human nature...who knows.

My own phone was receiving so many messages (useless, most of the time) that the battery would barely last two hours, before needing a recharge. And yes, it was one of those good Samsung smartphones (S-something, I have lost track of their numerous models). Hence that is how the ‘Power Bank’ (and other portable mobile device recharging batteries) industry has thrived.

DAMN NOTIFICATIONS!!

If you leave your phone for 30 minutes or an hour, you could have 100, 200 or even 500 messages, and it could all be on football, or nothing at all. I have friends who are long-haul pilots, who upon arrival at their destination would scroll through thousands of messages just to keep updated!!

It was just getting too much and as I was going through my own 'soul-searching', I realized this has got to stop. The first thing I did was remove myself from all WhatsApp groups and then uninstall it, and then migrate to Telegram. Telegram is supposed to be much faster and more efficient.

I sent a message to all of my contacts that I had to move to Telegram because insert-any-political-cause-here as well as the fact that it seemed more efficient and I could add 100 people into any one group. As I had predicted my