Top News

If you ask me, this WhatsApp (WA) texting is getting quite out of hand. I'm no social spark, my social skills being on par with a grizzly just emerging from a four month hibernation, but even I find about 20-25 new messages on my phone when I wake up in the morning. And during the course of the day there will be about another 30 or so. Of this, only about five will convey anything meaningful, the rest will be rubbish—generic religious greetings, homilies on how to live well, quotations from unheard sages, all kinds of fake news, RIP messages. Some of these I find intriguing. Let me explain.

Take the RIPs. What's the point of sending an RIP on a group chat if a member or relative/friend of one has passed on? How does that console the effected family? Would it not make more sense if the message was sent directly to the family of the deceased? Is the intention of the messaging to make a public display of your concern or to show genuine sympathy or grief? If the former, wouldn't it be better to take out a two column insert in the Tribune or Times of India?

Then come the proforma greetings—Happy Republic Day! Happy New Year! Happy Women's Day! Happy Ganesh Chaturthi! Now, apart from the fact that there is little happiness attached to any of these occasions these days, not one of these messages is usually composed by the sender—all of them are ‘Forwards’! These are "pass through" wishes, second hand greetings. This alone says a lot about their sincerity or genuineness. And what's the ruddy point of all this, considering that Your cup of happiness is already overflowing since every blessed day of the year is "Happy something or the other"?

Even the news or so-called ‘informatory’ items are usually ‘forwards’, rarely does the sender verify their authenticity or give his/her own views, and one doesn't have a clue why it has been sent. Not only is this  intellectual laziness at its worst, it also assumes that you are an ignoramus who has no idea of what is going on in the world and therefore needs to be reminded every half hour!

I usually delete all such messages without even reading them. In addition, I have on my WA groups a mental list of such serial offenders and delete their messages without even looking at them. So, you may well ask, why am I getting so riled up about all this?

Because, dear reader, there's an environmental cost to this digital diarrhoea. The internet contributes more to global pollution levels than the aviation sector—3.7 per cent as against the latter's 3 per cent. Globally, 150 billion WA messages are texted every day (this is in addition to 300 billion emails!). Every WA (or email) message generates 0.3 to 0.7 gm of CO2; attached pictures, video or audio increase this to 17 gm. (This is the result of the energy needed to power your device, servers and the data centre that store the data). Not much to bother about, you might say. But do the maths to understand my angst. 

India has about 800 million WA users; assuming each user sends just 20 messages a day, the daily total comes to 16 billion messages. Assume again that each message contributes 0.5 gm of CO2, the daily emission is 10 gram per user. Extrapolating this for 800 million users, the pollution contribution by WhatsApp comes to 8,000 tonnes per day or 2,920,000 tonnes per annum.

The contributions of Gmail, Netflix, YouTube are in addition to this, and much higher. The latest to join the polluting bandwagon is AI whose data centres consume humungous amounts of power (and water)—the AI chatbot Chat GTP’s emissions per month are equivalent to 260  flights from New York to London! The digital carbon footprint, currently almost 4 per cent of total emissions, is expected to double in the next five years.

As in other areas of consumption, we must be more responsible, and incorporate digital, or data, hygiene in our use of the internet. Apart from putting a stop to unnecessary texting, experts advise that we should clear out our old and dated stored messages, photos and videos regularly, avoid sending attachments unnecessarily, unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters, compress documents before sending them and stop this pernicious and fashionable practice of "binge-watching". It is not necessary to forward every message received on WhatsApp to all and sundry simply to show how well connected, or informed, you are. Moreover, chances are that most of these folks would already have received these messages from others who think just as you do!  Try and spend just one day in a week without sending any message. Every little bit helps and we need to practice digital detoxing on a regular basis. If not, stop complaining about the AQI. A country gets the leaders—and AQI—it deserves.