Indians play (WhatsApp) status games!
Role of WhatsApp in Indian families.
Tale of two sisters
Two sisters, Saranya and Preeti, hail from Tamil Nadu and have wed into families with contrasting marriage situations. While the older sibling, Saranya, entered into a traditional arranged marriage, her younger sister Preeti chose to marry someone she had fallen in love with.
Despite both Saranya and her spouse being employed, Saranya has voluntarily shouldered the entire burden of household management alongside her mother-in-law. They take care of meal preparation, housekeeping, and overall home organization. Saranya embraced these responsibilities willingly, with minimal objections or opposition. She even considered herself fortunate to be married to her husband.
Prior to her marriage, her younger sister Preeti considered the traditional household roles to be normal, based on the examples set by her parents and brother in law in her life. However, her perspective shifts after she begins living with her spouse. Her husband's willingness to assist with household chores comes as a welcome surprise to Preeti, who discovers that their shared responsibilities significantly improve her quality of life.
Preeti grows increasingly concerned about her brother-in-law's lack of involvement in household tasks. She subtly expresses her disapproval by indirectly comparing him to her own husband, praising his helpfulness. Preeti also gently encourages her sister to be more assertive in requesting her husband's participation in domestic responsibilities.
Preeti, maintains a constant presence in Saranya's life through Instagram feeds and WhatsApp statuses. One morning, as Saranya hurriedly prepares her home before heading to work, she notices a WhatsApp status update from Preeti. The image displays Preeti relaxing in bed with a coffee, accompanied by a caption 'Lucky to have such a husband in my life'. The apparently harmless update triggers feelings of discontent in Saranya regarding her own situation, even though her actual circumstances remain unchanged.
Preeti's weekend outings with her husband now appear on Instagram feed, which sparks passive fights between Saranya and her husband. She urges her husband to take her out, dressed up to enjoy an evening, only for it to result in a series of WhatsApp status updates.
Before she even realizes it, Saranya falls prey to the status game, except this is just on WhatsApp.
Social media feeds and carefully curated online personas, it's easy to fall prey to what psychologists call the availability heuristic. This mental shortcut describes our tendency to overestimate the frequency of events that are easily recalled, often due to their vividness or recent exposure. These posts, while not necessarily representative of reality, can create a distorted perception of others' lives, making us feel inadequate or envious.
A fictional narrative inspired by various anecdotes shared on the Tamil discussion program 'Neeya Naana'.
Invisible Indian family game
In my family wedding gatherings are more than just kind gestures and meeting relatives. They are a way to showcase their social status. Attendees discuss business, money, children and their jobs, land, wealth, cars, and everything materialistic. It was either pride in having these things or gossip about someone not having them.
Now social media has given rise to new touch points beyond traditional wedding gatherings. These interactions now occur through non-verbal cues via WhatsApp statuses, photos shared in family groups, and video calls with relatives. For example, an uncle buying a new car hundreds of kilometers away can affect my dad's mental health.
The constant exposure to others' achievements and happy moments through social media can make these events seem more frequent and important than they truly are, leading to dissatisfaction with our own circumstances.
These digital signal also extend to how we percieve love and friendship
Love and friendship
I've had the same WhatsApp profile picture for the last 4 years. I never bothered to change it, as I didn't find the need. My wife, however, changes hers frequently. Sometimes she has a profile picture, and sometimes she doesn't.
I didn't find this particularly strange until one day I realized that her profile picture disappears every time we have an argument. It took me a few months to decipher this pattern, but I soon realized that if her profile picture vanishes, it means I've really upset her. It reflects her state of mind.
I have uncovered stories from Gen Z boys about how WhatsApp status updates send social signals in their circle. A boy posting a romantic poem or song on his status is not only dedicating it to his girlfriend but also signaling to his friends that he is capable of having a partner, which he takes pride in as an achievement.
Similarly, people who lift their phones to capture the title card of movies in theaters are posting status updates to signal that they have watched the movie on the first day, first show.
Conclusion
We started by achieving things in life to create memories. Later, it evolved into creating, remembering, and sharing those memories. Now, sharing has taken precedence.
I’m particularly fascinated by how AI can magnify these social signals within families and friendships— revealing new layers of human interaction. Observing the ways individuals shape their online identities, uphold cultural rituals, and navigate “status games” offers us a unique vantage point from which to interpret evolving social norms. Its only about time we would start manufacturing memories to win the game.
(somewhere in near future)
"Hey ChatGPT, can you write a script and execute my social media response to my sister's WhatsApp status?" the user asks, proceeding to select the 'deep jealous' button in the interface.
In Rural Kutch(Gujarat) there is a phenomenon of poster-driven micro charity these days. People donate sums like 551, 1001 to local charities, mostly a Village Gaushala or Village temple management committee. Upon giving the amount, the guy who manages this then sends you a poster that has your photo, full name, the amount you have donated and a message thanking you and wishing you well. You would then post that poster on your WhatsApp status and then all your friends and family would post that on their timeline wishing you on birthday (or buying a new vehicle, death anniversary of someone, House function, Shop opening, basically any special occasion in your life).
This has not only turned into a status game but also a marketing opportunity for local businesses.
For example, If you're opening a local snacks or Garments shop in the village, you would donate to similar charities not only in your village but to other neighbouring villages as well to get the word out about your new venture. This reaches almost all of the population!
The annual revenues are in a couple of lakhs depending on the size of the village and every other village now runs its own Gaushala on this! The whole game runs on that WhatsApp status poster. Barely any of them would pay if these posters were to disappear tomorrow!
No wonder the India Consumption Theme will play out for a very long time.
We somehow like playing these status games. I remember the crucial moments when the results of 10th, 12th, Graduation or some correspondence degree like CA, CS, would be announced in our social circles. One can only imagine the plight of these young children who are appearing for IIT-JEE at such a young age.
Spending on travel has increased considerably due to this monkey mindset. Families are spending on big-bang weddings combined with pre-wedding photo shoots.
I'm in my mid-30s now, and honestly I don't remember having a very relaxed conversations with my cousins anymore. It's all about business, travel plans, vacations, something stupid all the time. Well, kudos to those who still have warm relationships with their cousins.