Tired of being added to random WhatsApp groups? Here’s how to put a stop to the menace

Whatsapp has over the years overtaken SMS and e-mails to become everyone’s favourite mode of messaging. The Facebook-owned messaging application has over 1.5 billion users worldwide, and in India alone it has over 400 million (40 crore) active users. And most Whatsapp users would agree that with huge user base comes a huge volume of messages — both wanted and unwanted. These days a majority of unwanted bulk messages are received by users from Whatsapp Groups where they may or may not have been added with their consent. The whole process of adding people on to one’s Whatsapp contacts is so simple that it is no wonder that users often wake up to find themselves added to a Whatsapp Group of their residential society or gym or family or in-laws or cousins or school friends or office colleagues or college mates or even local political parties’ election canvassing group. And what follows is a barrage of “Good morning!” and “Goodnight” messages with flower emojis, inspirational quotes, health hacks, announcements by UNESCO, and what not.