From the invention of Alexander Graham Bell to wireless landlines to portable cell phones to sending text messages, the choice of communication has changed throughout history. The biggest variation of text messages today is group chats. Group chats were made popular through Apple’s iPhone where a user can produce a chat forum between them and other iPhone users. IPhone users can also have a group chat with android users, but the texts could either separate and you can’t remove or add others in the chat. With technology like this it advances communication for users, but like every good thing, there are bad things that come along with it. Here are some pros and cons that come with every group chat.
Pro: It makes planning easier.
When you have a group of people you want to get together for something you can just add everyone into a group chat to so everyone can discuss where they want to go or what they want to do, instead of separately texting everyone because someone could get left out that way.
Con: Multiple messages at one time.
Depending on the amount of people you have in your group chat, it can get messy and distracted it. If you’re away from your phone for a while you can get a ton of text messages and when you check them the conversation keeps going so catch yourself up accordingly and people are still continuously sending messages.
Pro: You can stay connected to everyone.
You can start one to stay connected to everyone if everyone lives in a separate location or everyone’s doing their own thing and you want the squad to regroup. It’s also useful when everyone’s home for break and people want to communicate to everyone at once. It’s great for families that are spread throughout the world to stay connected.
Con: The subject seems to change every two seconds.
Even though you started a group chat to stay connected everyone’s doing something different so one person could be doing this while another person is doing that. You want to make dinner plans? Well someone else wants to talk about the new dress they bought.
Pro: When you don’t know how to respond to a text, there’s always the group chat.
When collegiate get into one group chat we usually talk about food, boys and plans. Say you started texting the guy you’ve had your eye on this whole school year and you don’t know the right thing to send back, the group chat is always there for you with suggestions to give.
Con: You get a lot of different opinions.
If you’re in a group chat with a lot of people, you can get a lot of contradicting opinions if you ask for some advice. If you don’t know how you feel about an outfit and half of the group is telling you yes and the other half is telling you no, go with your gut.
Pro: You can leave/join the conversation whenever.
The joys of having group chats with all iPhone users is that you can join or leave a conversation whenever you want in order to end the conversation or you’re annoyed with the amount of messages you get.
Con: The amount of messages you can get.
They just keep accumulating and accumulating. It’s never ending and this would be a reason why you would leave. You join for the conversation you leave for the amount of conversation.
Pro: Bless the invention of the “Do Not Disturb” option.
A great option for you if you don’t want to leave the conversation, but extremely annoyed with the notifications, you can switch on the “do not disturb” option and you won’t get the alerts, but the badges of your unread messages will be there.
Con: People are up at random times.
Do you like to be in bed at 11 at night? Not in this group chat. Like sleeping until 10 in the morning? Not in this group chat. Sometimes someone needs somebody to talk to at random times in the night, some like to tell them about their morning routine at 8 in the morning. It happens.
Group chats have their benefits and their cost, but it just shows how technology is expanding and soon they’ll perfect the group chat. For now, enjoy them, stay connected and get involved, especially since summer starts in the next three weeks.