Often conscripted into the professional world, the right to disconnect could enter the family sphere, as evidenced by a message that has gone viral. In the United States, a father announced to his children that he was leaving the family’s Whatsapp group and, since then, his arguments have been liked several hundred thousand times. Explanations.
Thomas D’Orazio is 51 years old. He lives in the United States and has two daughters aged 23 and 19. Like many other parents around the world, he is connected to his family through a Whatsapp-like group. As a result, he is aware of everything that is happening in real time… and his daily life is regularly interrupted by sending a selfie, a message, a question, a gif and, he knows, each new notification calls for a like, a response, a smiley or whatever. It’s the custom, “to drop a seen”, it doesn’t happen.
Except that at some point, he got fed up and dared to say it and explain it… on the Whatsapp group in question. Sprinkled with humor, and self-mockery, his message was the subject of a screenshot published on January 17 on Twitter by his daughter. Here it is :
My dad seriously sent this to our family groupchat im crying pic.twitter.com/em70wVKHti
– snakel3t (@snakel3t) January 17, 2023
“I can’t read all this, I can’t stand having to always laugh or like or add little hearts to every thought, photo or joke posted here. For future posts: I love them, they make me laugh, and I like them unless it’s bad, in which case I don’t like them. For life. But I can’t live with this pressure anymore, I’m leaving, and it’s signed by a grumpy old man born before cell phones.
Since then, this message has been viewed nearly 15 million times. It must be said that it reveals a new modern phenomenon that we have not finished hearing about: digital exhaustion. Our smartphones constantly demand our attention, impose constant pressure on us and eat up all our time. So much so that some now decide to emancipate themselves from it.
That said, Thomas D’Orazio, teaches us franceinfo, finally decided to stay in his Whatsapp group, preferring, more simply, to cut notifications. From now on, it is no longer Whatssap that requests it, it’s the opposite. He only looks at it when he feels the need or the desire, he is no longer interrupted. A good compromise.
