The WhatsApp trap

A friend of mine recently failed to notice a WhatsApp conversation from her workplace at around one-thirty in the morning because she was asleep. Later on, the next working day at her workplace, she became the subject of negative criticism from her seniors, which sent her into a deep state of mental distress.

In today's corporate culture, I don't think she is alone in experiencing such stress for not noticing a WhatsApp thread. Almost every one of us feels insecure in our jobs if we fail to respond to a WhatsApp or a text message, even during weekends and holidays.

There is always something happening in our workplace WhatsApp groups. Someone engages with a stakeholder and posts a photo. Someone's relative passes away, and an avalanche of condolence messages pours in. A senior feels unwell, and hundreds of 'get-well' and 'prayers for you' messages are sent. If someone wishes 'Happy Birthday' to a teammate, we feel obligated to respond.

Observing all this, we feel compelled and, most of the time, tempted to respond. In fact, we must be able to respond, say something, or click on an emoji. If we don't, we, in our minds, feel left out, fearing that the important people in our workplace would notice our passiveness or quietness, and we might lose their workplace affection. This is known as the 'fear of missing out'.

A supervisor (including this author) might post a Zoom link in the team's WhatsApp group on the weekend, calling for an urgent meeting. On the weekend, many may not notice it, but those who posted might consider their teammates inefficient for not noticing the message.

Given this scenario, our WhatsApp behaviour is quite stressful. Often, threads keep us awake for a long time, depriving us of the valuable rest at night that we crave.

Usually, when we send a message, we wait for the blue ticks and often try to know the last-seen information, which may take away much of our productive hours. If we are frequent users of WhatsApp, we must have noticed how the blue ticks on our home screen can interfere with our concentration. Not only do we lose our concentration, but we are also distracted from our work because we constantly check our phones.

We become eager to know whether the receiver has read our messages. Sometimes, blue ticks do not appear, making us more anxious. When there is no immediate response, we tend to become panicky.

In a group chat, reactions can sometimes escalate our anxiety or confusion to an extreme level. Reactions may cause misunderstandings even among family members and friends, not to mention coworkers. Confusion may lead to negativity in our relationships, and we may react with equal negativity.

That is how we become constant checkers of WhatsApp, and it becomes an addiction after a while. We do not need any studies to tell us that this addiction can have negative consequences, including a decline in self-esteem and social isolation. Finally, constant messaging can lead us to mental and physical burnout.

We all realise this has negative consequences and must find a way to redeem it. What could we do about it?

There are straightforward ways. We may think of only exchanging work-related messages after working hours, on holidays, or on weekends if there is a pressing issue. Many companies around the world are adopting this culture of letting people be themselves during their own time.

However, in a country like ours, this may sound unrealistic. Therefore, we, the receivers, can take our time to respond. We do not have to feel pressured to respond immediately. If we took our time, it would be a thoughtful response.

We could also begin the practice of being away from our cell phones for a certain period of time. We do not have to check our messages every ten minutes. Feeling the urge to check our messages evokes stress. So, we must decide when to check and respond to our messages.

We could practise mindfulness while receiving and sending a text; we could just take a pause, check in with ourselves and notice any feelings of anxiety. The realisation of being anxious can lead us to strategise our WhatsApp behaviour.

Finally, there comes setting boundaries; it should be okay to set boundaries with the people we text. We could say that we need our space or time to respond.

This pervasive culture of constant connectivity and immediate responses in the workplace does lead to significant stress and mental health challenges. It is about time we started thinking about it.

Ekram Kabir is a storyteller and a communications professional.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.