Becoming a groupie

I recently came across someone using what amounts to an archaeological artifact. What, for want of a better word, is called a dumb phone. Surprised as I was to see a phone that can only be used for raising or receiving calls and messages, I could not help a twinge of nostalgia.

I, too, belonged to the recalcitrant few who refused to switch to the smarter versions of the phone. Yes, yes, it WAS because I did not want dumber than even my own phone, no matter how used I was to being dumber than the rest of the world. But then...?

"Why didn't you come to our batch get together on Saturday?"

"What get-together?"

AND it transpires that one was organised right next to my home and I had no clue because it was all done on this strange thing called WhatsApp. Which I could access ONLY if my phone got smarter.

It's not like I gave in immediately. The problem, though, was that I explained that I was still dumb as far as phones went (ALSO dumb is how my friends put it) and expected that they would not assume that I know whatever is being discussed on WhatsApp. Well, as it happened, THEY assumed that I would get a Smartphone. Over time, I realized that I was getting the reputation of being antisocial (Oh! I AM but I'd rather be accused when the accusation is warranted, not when it is unjust!). And, if I wanted to still retain some friends, there was no help for it. I HAD to get a Smartphone.

And then I realized what groups on WhatsApp were! Within days, I was a member of school groups, college groups, trekking groups and whatnot. Thankfully, I had quit working else I daresay work would have also intruded into this space and I'd have had to open WhatsApp with the same trepidation with which I used to log in to my office email in my working days, wondering what new headaches it was going to bring me and how much of the increasingly shrinking leisure time was going to vanish as a consequence of the next message. 

The first couple of days were a real horror story. Every other moment the phone would ping, I'd rush to open the dratted App to find a fresh message, open it to find...

What I found depended on the group it came on. Surprisingly, I realized that groups had their specific flavors. I mean, yeah, you expect trekking groups to have details of trekking and tours and so on...hobby and enthusiasm groups ARE interests-based groups and, thus, are expected to cater to those interests. But...school groups, college groups...

I mean, is there some specific reason why it is in school groups that every other member feels the need to wish 'Good Morning' every day whereas the same chaps are no feeling the need to spread the cheer on college groups or work groups? I have a theory on that, of course. I think that, once you get together in the exclusive company of your schoolmates, you feel free to revert back to childhood. So, along with the carefree friendship and the innocence, you probably revert back to the habits as well. And one of the ingrained habits of childhood is saying 'Good Morning' every 'period' as the next class' teacher walks in. And so... (I do not know if that habit still exists in today's schools).

I hear from other chappies that, the groups from boys only schools revert to other hormone-driven habits of teens as well in the 'art' that they share. But it is probably the 'boys will be boys' thingy which men persist in, especially when the company is exclusively male, even at an age when the only thing that will enlarge is their prostrate.

But, yes, I see shades of it in all groups. I mean, like, you tend to revert to the sort of behavior that you adopted in that particular place when you were there. IF you were intent on showing off your nerdiness at college, you do that in that group. IF you were the back-bencher then, you act one now as well...most especially if you 'real' life makes you have to act the serious sober businessman now! And so on...

Par for the course, I suppose. After all, we are act differently with different people...your persona varies according to the company you are in. AND these groups have a sort of group persona derived from your experiences when it was all in person...'real' so to speak!

One of the other things I found is the persistence of groups. Like, you could create a group with the intention of coordinating one particular event like, say, a get-together. And, three years down the line you'll find a message on that group leaving you scratching your head about what that group was and how on earth you happened to be a member of it. Groups get created but never destroyed!

Oh! Ah! I forgot to tell you that I did find a way to mute the notifications on these messages. Otherwise... Well, it is sort of nice to know to wish people on their birthdays but to get a notification every time one of a hundred odd people wish the chap a 'Happy birthday', every time that chap replies 'Thank you' AND, possibly, every time the original wisher replies to that 'Thank you' (Being taught in school that it is polite to say 'Do not mention it' or some such when someone thanks you)...well, I mean notification pings three hundred times in the morning...possibly every morning...!

It would drive me crazy!