Whatsapp Boundaries

Till recently, I too loved sending GIFs to friends and family on WhatsApp. But

with the outbreak of war in the middle East, and the impending fuel crisis

across the world, I just remembered that GIFs, videos, and photographs have

something to do with these issues.

GIFs and videos are big size data. A lot of electricity is consumed by Meta and

other tech giants for uploading storing and transferring these files. You might

wonder the jumping cat or a talking flower look so tiny, and how much of

electricity these cute little things would consume. But, out of the 800 crore

population of the world, even if 500 crore people sent one GIF everyday, the

global consumption of electricity will be of mammoth proportions. And that's

why every nation is hell- bent on generating more electricity.

More electricity means more Hydel power stations, submerging of more

forests, emission of greenhouse gases from the submerged vegetation, loss of

wildlife and much more.

More electricity means more thermal power stations, which will burn the fossil

fuels like coal, oil and natural gas which produce heat and release gases like

Carbon dioxide, Sulphur dioxide. These gases cause air pollution and climatic

change.

More electricity means more atomic power stations which have less of carbon

emission but more of radioactive waste.

The governments of the world try their best to mitigate all these dangers to

planet earth. Why not we too do our tiny bit by stopping the GIFs, emojis, and

AI generated videos, photographs, Reels etc. The senior citizen groups are

notorious for flooding the WhatsApp with these big files everyday. In fact they

have already been nicknamed as the WhatsApp aunties and uncles.

Why not we enlighten ourselves about the harmful effect of these innocuous

looking forwards, and use WhatsApp 'only for essential communications'.?

About the Author: 

Meena Prasad, a retired teacher with a heart full of stories and hands full of creativity! 😊  You can find her lost in a good book, scribbling away in her journal, or getting artsy with paints and crafts. She's proof that retirement is just the beginning – now she's living her best life, one brushstroke at a time! 🎨