Adhiraj Verma
anjalisanjay04@gmail.com
A Time When Work Stayed at Work
There was a time when office gates closed at 5 pm and, with them, work stayed behind. Parents returned home, loosened their ties, picked up their children, and stepped into playgrounds and living rooms without the shadow of tomorrow’s tasks hanging over their heads. Home was home. Office was office.
When WhatsApp Became the Office
That boundary has now vanished – quietly, almost invisibly – with the arrival of one small green icon on our phones called WhatsApp. We once believed technology would save time. Somehow, it has ended up stealing it instead. In many ways, it has made life busier.
The Digital Surveillance Effect
The most dangerous feature of WhatsApp is not messaging, but those two blue ticks and the “last seen” time. They have become tools of digital surveillance. Your boss knows when you have read a message. He knows when you were online. And once he knows that, there is an unspoken expectation – if you have seen it, you must act on it, immediately.
No Weekends, No Holidays
Unwritten but very real, WhatsApp has quietly overruled formal office procedures. Orders that once came on official files now arrive as blurred photographs clicked on a phone. Deadlines that were once discussed in meetings now come through voice notes sent late at night. Even Sundays and holidays have slowly surrendered.
Work Follows You Everywhere
The beauty – or perhaps the tragedy – of this system is that your boss can now assign work anytime and from anywhere: during his morning walk, over breakfast, or even while lying in bed. God help you if your boss is an early riser. You, meanwhile, are expected to remain on constant alert, checking your phone again and again, afraid that you might miss “something important.” I once received a video call from my superior while I was sitting on a toilet seat. It was awkward, absurd, and strangely revealing.
The WhatsApp Workforce
This is not a rare story. It is now the everyday reality of millions of professionals – government employees, teachers, doctors, journalists, engineers, sales staff, and even factory supervisors. We have become WhatsApp labourers – always available, always reachable, always on standby.
The Human Cost
Smart devices have made us efficient, but also strangely powerless. We no longer protect our own time, and we no longer respect the time of others.
Messages are sent without thinking whether the receiver is resting, eating, spending time with family, or simply trying to breathe. Think of children whose parents are technically at home but mentally in office – eyes glued to screens, fingers tapping replies, minds never fully present.
So, What Do We Really Want?
So is WhatsApp office culture a boon or a curse? It is both. It brings speed, efficiency and ease – but it also brings stress, pressure and burnout. The real problem is not WhatsApp; it is the absence of boundaries. Perhaps it is time we relearn a simple rule: just because someone can reach you anytime does not mean they should. Work must end somewhere – or life begins nowhere.
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