Certain setbacks of free messaging apps.....

The free messaging apps have enclosed us in a virtual world. Heads down and fingers moving vigorously  on screen like ants has turned out into a most undefeated hobby. Of course these apps have paid their plausible contribution in shrinking the size of our planet Earth. But it has also led to confusions, misunderstandings and fights. Let's have a look at the causes of such outcomes:

1. Tricky Emoticons:

  

The use of emoticons is so enormous and popular. It has an upper hand in most of the conversations as they are given more preference than the words. Why would I like to call them as "tricky?" That's because whatever feelings a person is undergoing cannot be put forward as a mirror image with the help of emoticons. It can be contradictory. For instance if an individual feels that he has typed something nasty online, he would immediately send '😜' or '😉' just to reduce the impact of nastiness or arrogance. That individual is trying to cover up the emotion of anger or frustration through such emoticons. The person on the other end may feel he or she is joking and would take it lightly. It leads to misinterpretation of emotions, until and unless you specify clearly what is going on your mind.

2. Are you considering a stranger as your friend?

Many a times one likes to show his/her chats to friends. It leads to the arousal of excitement and exchange of 'ideas.' Here 'ideas' actually mean: Gosh! That's not the way of writing! Wait, give to me and I will type it! The person on the other end feels that those messages are the results of the actual friend's processed thoughts and he/she may either be happy, angry or sad depending on the nature of the message. To have more fun, the stranger never spills the beans out of the bag. He/she gains pleasure in confusing the person on the other end, which could lead to disastrous consequences. 

3. Has making people laugh turned out to be your job?

These messaging apps are comprehended as 'entertainment' for many people. There are individuals who depend on others for passing out their time, so they start sending messages to the ones by-whom they are entertained, when they appear online. The ones who have a good sense of humour may be struck by a thought that the 'importance' they gain through such messages could be the shortcomings of being liked by an xyz person. They don't realise that the importance is maybe nothing but the urge to ooze out boredom, for which humorous people are taken for granted. 'Don't go offline. I will get bored' or 'I am so damn bored...start a topic' are the texts which would make you wonder have you really turned out to be a mere source of entertainment for others? 

4. Do you mean what you type?

The 'indirect conversation' is the essence of messaging apps. People take this as a support to express certain feelings which they are afraid or not comfortable to say directly. They gain complete freedom to bombard those feelings into the small boxes which pop up sequentially on the screen. The words that make up a sentence can be altered and altered again depending on the mood or how diplomatic a person is. But is the weight of the words equal to the weight of the feelings stirring inside?  God knows! I would only like to suggest that don't get swayed by the nature of the words that an individual types down as a text message. Whether the words are heart-warming or harsh, I feel that one should not jump over conclusions, as you are not with the person in reality and hence you can't even guess what his/her state of mind could be!

 

Actions speak louder than words. One must not get emotionally charged just by brooding over the words spilled out from the person's fingers. His/ her actions in future would slowly give you a clear idea about his/her personality.

There was another quote which I came across in FB:

"People type 'lol' without even laughing hard. So, if someone types 'I love you', there may be a possibility that the person doesn't mean it. Don't get fooled!" 

5. Absence of observing body language:

As mentioned in the earlier point, texting is an indirect conversation. That can also be considered as a setback of texting because we miss out one of the most important technique of knowing a person closely and that is through his body language. We generally have a tendency to judge a person by hearing out the words spoken. But observing a person's body language, especially the person's eyes is helpful in knowing a lot about the person in the first meeting itself. Words as I explained earlier could be altered and manipulated very easily by us. But the body language cannot be succumbed to changes as per the mind's desire. It gives you the picture regarding the core of an individual's personality. That however is not possible in text conversations. 

The above assumptions after all is inclusive of the typed out explanations which were lying deep within my opinions. Through this article, I don't have any intention to challenge someone else's opinions regarding messaging apps. I know different people would be having varied opinions or suggestions regarding this and I truly respect that.