Inner Peace from Whatsapp :-P

Last Sunday, I let Uwais played Youtube on my mobile while he was waiting for me to finish some tasks at my office. He's to accompany me to my cousin's wedding later that afternoon. Within half an hour later, he'd manage to 'jammed' my mobile. The thing about my Sony Experia, once it's jammed, I can't even do anything on it, it just hang! I can't even  'force- shut' it by expelling the battery out of it, because like the Iphone, one simply can't do that. So what I usually do is just wait until the battery exhausted itself and the phone died out. Charge it back again and I have my phone back.

My Sony, compared to when I was using Samsung branded mobiles rarely goes 'commando' on me. But of course with a Samsung you simply peel off the back of it and take out the battery, problem solved! Anyway, my Sony took beautiful pic, like the one below and I love it, and after almost a year, I kinda get the hang of not using a Samsung, unlike the rest of my family members whose attached to the brand. 

The view out of my office three-paneled window.
Subhanallah beautiful isn't it?
I will really all of miss this some day

I noticed that my Sony will always go berserk when there's just too many things on its data. My Sony is capable of holding up to 16GB data on its internal storage alone. Lately, especially after our Australian Adventure, notification keeps popping up requesting me to transfer some of the data out of its internal storage. I got almost 5k pictures as part of the data, more if not for some transfer exercises I did before we left for Australia. I also got various apps that are taking up so much space. So I decided to delete a couple of them too, including Whatsapp. haha crazy me, who'd uninstall Whatsapp right? Well, I did! I thought it'd be temporary until I cleared half of the data of the internal storage.

But the thing is, after a couple of days, I find myself liking the 'quietness' of not having to check your Whatsapp from time to time. As Sifoo from Kungfu Panda would say - I found inner peace! ;-) Actually, I have had some issues with Whatsapp for awhile now. Let me list them down:

Time Stamps

I hate the fact that it has "Time stamps" of when you were last seen alive, ... alright! I meant online :-P. In this 'online people-connecting' era, people expect you to answer them there and then when they text you, and with the 'Time Stamps' you can no longer excused yourself. Gone are the days when you can actually receive messages, ponder upon them, think about it on your own free time before you answer them. Whatsapp tracked your online 'whereabouts', they tell people you're there, and you'll be receiving messages (and expected to be answering since you're ONLINE). But why are you not replying??!! Well, maybe I don't want to - how's that? But of course, you're 'not allowed' to do that, because you're there - ONLINE! There's no other status choices, for example, offline or away. Only ONLINE or the last time you were seen online!

Automatic add of contacts including in groups

If someone in your contacts are using Whatsapp too, it automatically connects the two numbers. You have no choice. There's no suggestion, or option to connect. You'll simply get connected anyway. You lost your freedom of choosing who you wants to be in contact with. This also goes with group chats. I have a couple of groups in my Whatsapp. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea that Whatsapp could connects these people with me. But I'd prefer to be asked first before I am added into the group. Some would consider this a small matter, but wait till you get to my next point.

No way to log off or leave a group discreetly

Adding to the annoyance of point 1 and point 2, there's no way for you to switch off the application, unless you shut off the phone. How else then, can they be able to publicize when you were last seen online? So basically, Whatsapp is 'hauting' you hahaha. 

And when it comes to group chat, there's no way for you to leave the chat room discreetly via logging off for example. Your only other choice is to leave the group, and oh my, my! when you do choose that option, Whatsapp tells every members of the group - "Fadzlina has left the group". And the 'whispers' that followed that 'leaving' notification is rather upsetting for the rest of the group members. That notification somehow felt like someone has turned their backs from the group. They'll keep asking - why? why? Did they say or do something wrong?

Actually in truth that's not the case. Some discussion interest you, some don't. You'd rather not know nor participate at all in discussion that doesn't interest you. But Whatsapp doesn't give you that choice, the choice to be excused, remember you're always ONLINE. For individual contact, you may block them, but not so for groups. Imagine the 'uproar' if blocking for groups are allowed - "Fadzlina has blocked the group" hahaha... So basically you have very limited choices. You will still be receiving notification from your group chats even if you have no interest in the matter being discussed. Hence, even if you don't want to discuss them, you'll still be in the know. I find that very annoying. Many times some of the info shared sidetracked me - simply said became a cause for me to procrastinate haha... But on a serious note, it gets rather upsetting when at times what's being shared or discussed have not been properly corroborated. Anyway, on most Androids, to avoid the 'scandals' of leaving a group, the most you can do is silenced the group notifications. I did use that for a couple of groups, a couple of times. But despite being silenced/muted - Whatsapp would still show you the notification icons, in other words you'd still be notified. Kinda defeat the purpose, don't you think?  

So should I go back on Whatsapp then? As I said earlier, I kinda found 'inner peace'. Let see how long I want it to last. Probably forever? Let's see :-P