The 5 types of people you will find in a group chat
Modern life is not easy — it’s hard enough getting through day-to-day real life, but we also have to deal with online life too. You send a text to a friend and you don’t get a reply. You send an email to your Mum and she forgets to answer. You follow a friend on social media and they don’t follow you back. Sigh.
My least favourite way of online communication is the dreaded WhatsApp group chat. Here is a list of the usual characters you will find on there:
1. The Event Organiser
This person is super organised and regularly suggests catch ups and activities. Their energy and efforts are much admired and they are my favourite person in the group.
2. The Eager Responder
This person readily responds to others’ messages. They are highly conscientious, efficient and reliable. The only problem is their over eagerness. It is quite annoying, especially when they are sending messages at 8am on a Saturday morning and you are pre-coffee.
3. The Random Responder
This person is arguably the most annoying person in the group. They respond to the chat based on their mood. If they are feeling good, they will respond readily and eagerly. If they are not feeling good, don’t expect to hear from them.
4. The Emoji Responder
This person only responds in emojis — smiley face, thumbs up and excited face are their favourites. You start to wonder if they have forgotten how to text or write or simply respond in a normal way.
5. The Ghost
This is my least favourite person in the group chat. They never acknowledge or respond to any messages in the chat. They are M.I.A. A decent person would leave the group. The Ghost could not even be bothered doing that.
What I find hardest about the WhatsApp group chat is that you can’t leave the group without looking like an absolute twat. When you leave, a message is left to the rest of the group that says: ‘X left the group’. So you end up staying in the group for way longer than you meant to.
Unless you need to use WhatsApp to communicate with others, my suggestion is to stick to old fashioned texts to single people or at most two people. This will reduce social awkwardness and if you decide you don’t want to talk to them anymore, they don’t even have to know about it.
