I couldn’t live without WhatsApp – we shouldn’t take the app for granted

What’s happening with you?’

‘When are you visiting us?’

‘Are you on holiday? Take lots of pictures!’

Just some of the messages I’ve received in the past few weeks from the generations of friends and family scattered around the world.

These days, it feels like it is so simple to stay connected – and I know my life would be so different without WhatsApp in it.

Being connected is a fundamental part of my heritage and lifestyle. I am a Pakistani British woman and the eldest child of the family. In a family like mine, this often means you are responsible for encouraging regular meetups and maintaining family relationships. 

I’ve always treasured being close with my large family – but now I don’t have to wait until a Sunday meetup to find out what’s happening in someone else’s life –  aunts, uncles, cousins and friends from all over the world drink chai together over video calls and send pictures of their daily lives, increasing our bond and understanding of each other’s lives. 

It may sound obvious, but I do think in the modern world we take this easy way to communicate for granted.

Life is different today, not only from my parents’ generation, but even from my only childhood. 

During my study abroad year in Italy, I’d stay in touch with family asking for recipes to make or send pictures of places I visited.

And that’s continued through to today, where I use WhatsApp not only to stay in touch, but as the secret weapon in running my own business. 

While writing this, I am using WhatsApp to keep up to date with my grandparents who are currently travelling; my cousin as she welcomes her new baby into the world, and the colleagues on my global team as we plan how to scale our business over the next year. 

WhatsApp has helped me maintain many relationships, and it doesn’t cost me a penny.

I’ve always known I wanted to run my own business, but I never imagined that I could start one in the palm of my hand and conceive, share, and get feedback on my latest ideas instantly. 

When I first started in the corporate world, WhatsApp became my little green book of connections and the one thing that kept me feeling on top of impostor syndrome, something that became more critical when the Covid-19 pandemic started.

Around that time, I lost my job, security and sense of self. 

The pandemic only made my entire life weirder. Loneliness and a sense of disconnect became an everyday occurrence for many of us, and I was no exception.

WhatsApp was a way to limit the isolation with friends who were alone, cousins who grew up across England, Pakistan, America, Turkey, and Canada, and it helped us all find peace during those moments of devastation. 

My grandparents were five minutes down the road, so I would go on a jog and wave to them through the window. 

Unfortunately, my dad was stuck in Pakistan for months due to the restrictions, and my niece was growing up far too quickly on the other side of town. All these moments were tough and encouraged us to find new means of staying connected when we couldn’t be in the same room.

Eventually, as the pandemic wore on, I launched my business, The LMF Network, an inclusion consultancy and mentorship platform. I unlocked the many many faces of WhatsApp businesses: automatic replies, muted notifications and instant links to the services I offer. 

Something that, as a business owner and neurodivergent woman, has made a lot of difference is being able to manage your own client list and choosing how to stay in touch with them. 

For me, running a business is about having freedom and this app has helped me in doing so.

I only discovered relatively recently that the messaging service, so synonymous with our phones, actually has a desktop feature, meaning you can reply to messages while still working without needing to pause to look at your phone. 

To avoid email fatigue, when I’m working on my business through WhatsApp I send links, documents and contact details to my team and potential clients through the chat, making the next steps or negotiating contracts easier. 

Initially, when I used to provide my WhatsApp number, clients would look at me funny over Google Meets and question why.

Now, they love that they have my direct line. 

Of course, there are drawbacks to WhatsApp. You can receive spam messages or have fake accounts trying to steal your identity. Also, several countries don’t allow the use of this app, which can impact a global business like mine.

I know it may seem weird to think of WhatsApp as a piece of tech that I can’t live without, but it has changed my life. 

It’s something so many of us use daily, and I honestly think we take it for granted. 

Through this window into the world, I am globalised while staying local, connecting to a community far beyond the nine zones of London, keeping loved ones up to date on my many adventures through a medium that suits them, and managing personal and business relationships that span continents. 

Since using this simple, free app, I’ll never look back – not even to the glory days of MSN Messenger!

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