An endless frustration called Whatsapp

Raju Korti
Some people come in your life as blessings, some as lessons! This profound quote  is not a produce from my fertile imagination but a default truth I learnt from my harrowing experiences on Whatsapp. In a nation deep fried in communication advances it is becoming appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. The real problem is not whether technology thinks but whether men do.
The object of my latest vexation is not Whatsapp per se but the blatant, brazen and unabashed use of the medium by and large. Like any other application, it is a double-edged weapon. You either use it or abuse it but as it usually goes, abuse takes precedence.
As someone who was brought into the relentlessly taxing world of Whatsapp with marked reluctance, I qualify myself to be its foremost critic. Having joined any number of groups -- by choice or by compulsion -- I am finding it to my chagrin that the medium is fast becoming a spectacular heap of garbage piled on by a community that seems to be blessed with more than 24 hours a day and patience that deserves a left-handed compliment.
Each time I get a Whatsapp beep on my hapless cell phone, I shudder at the prospect of seeing videos, images, sundry quotes and hearsay stories that do precious little service to my sense of Education, Entertainment and Information. That, despite conceding that all three are open to individual definition in an era where humans are so close and yet so far.
Your headache uploads once you have downloaded the application. It is an open challenge to your sensitivity depending on whether or how much of it you own. It is almost akin to smokers ruining their lives and shortchanging that of the passive smokers whose only fault is to be present at the wrong place, wrong time.
Your day begins with "Good Mornings" and prospers with an assorted images, videos, unsubstantiated "forwards" and a host of quotes that no one apparently seems to be interested in. I have been in active Media for well over 38 years but I am yet to come to terms with the huge amount of communication congestion that suffocates my Whatsapp. You have to open it each time you receive a message because you never know when you would be messaged something important even in the midst of a mindless shindig that bombards you almost round the clock. I have woken up at unearthly hours to find out videos, images or jokes sent by one person to another and your only fault is you happen to be a part of that group. Talk of collateral damage!
The sender is blissfully unaware of the long videos or pictures that test the patience of the receiver. They take ages to download and if you have succeeded at all, your frustration comes out like the hiss of a punctured tyre because you wonder how they concerned you in the first place.In all probability, the jokes transmitted are doing rounds since ages and the blind "forwards" without any authenticity. Sometimes I wonder whether these are the work of a sadistic mind. The biggest joke is people who do this are often seen complaining about the senseless and irrelevant stuff they get on their phone. So they just make sure that they are not the lone sufferers.
I do not want to paint everyone with the same brush. There is a miniscule number that uses the application judiciously and sensibly, desisting from circulating inconsequential and sometimes panic-spreading material. Of course, it needs application and time to produce and generate so much output that comes free of cost anyway and can become public consumption at the press of a button. Technology is so much fun but we have the capacity to drown in our own technology. The fog of information can also drive out the fog of knowledge. Have we become the tools of our tools?
And to rub it in, we have the standard status that says "Hey there, I am using Whatsapp."