I'm personally against using
any instant messaging app, even more so if it's on a smartphone rather than on a desktop computer. I don't care how private they are. Why? Well, I think it's an inefficient communication tool, and thus a huge waste of time. Modern instant messaging applications work by interrupting people and being interrupted by them constantly throughout the day, since there's no way to turn it off—in contrast, MSN Messenger didn't allow for offline messaging until 2005; most of the time you found yourself in front of the computer with the program opened if somebody sent you a message, ready to engage in conversation instead of dealing with anything else.
Of course, you can turn the notifications off and check messages at a specific time every day, but good luck with that! If nested conversations without a subject attached to them, no character limit, and no formal way of telling when they either start or end aren't already put off enough and stretched out unnecessarily, imagine setting a time restriction to your responses. Imagine setting up a meeting or a date: as cumbersome and as long as it takes as it is, you'd spend a week trying to meet with somebody. Believe me, I've been there. I've tried it all: installing WhatsApp on a virtual machine with Android_x86 and only using it at night didn't solve a thing; still, a phone call was always faster and much more efficient in dealing with anything you can conceive. However, most people didn't want to pick up the phone; texting, on the other hand? I'd receive texts from people wanting to start full conversations there, to which they would respond every two or three hours. How can anyone do anything efficiently or be productive enough at work, or even enjoy hobbies, while doing that?
I know I'm alone on this one, but it's really frustrating seeing how something that isolates us and separates us from our own lives, immediate environments, and thoughts will probably never stop growing.
End of the rant.
Of course, you can turn the notifications off and check messages at a specific time every day, but good luck with that! If nested conversations without a subject attached to them, no character limit, and no formal way of telling when they either start or end aren't already put off enough and stretched out unnecessarily, imagine setting a time restriction to your responses. Imagine setting up a meeting or a date: as cumbersome and as long as it takes as it is, you'd spend a week trying to meet with somebody. Believe me, I've been there. I've tried it all: installing WhatsApp on a virtual machine with Android_x86 and only using it at night didn't solve a thing; still, a phone call was always faster and much more efficient in dealing with anything you can conceive. However, most people didn't want to pick up the phone; texting, on the other hand? I'd receive texts from people wanting to start full conversations there, to which they would respond every two or three hours. How can anyone do anything efficiently or be productive enough at work, or even enjoy hobbies, while doing that?
I know I'm alone on this one, but it's really frustrating seeing how something that isolates us and separates us from our own lives, immediate environments, and thoughts will probably never stop growing.
End of the rant.