Turn off the blue ticks
By turning off your read receipts you add an exciting element of mystery to your WhatsApp communication. Whether your friends are worried that you hate them or don’t know whether you’ll be there to collect them from the station, it will keep them on their toes.
Write a novel
Instead of just keeping your sodding feelings to yourself, why not respond to a quick ‘How’s things?’ with a heartfelt missive about all your recent doubts and dreams that will have your friend scrolling for a full 10 minutes. It’ll demand more than the simple thumbs-up emoji they were going to whack over.
Torture people with voice notes
Perhaps your partner was hoping to glance down and see what time they need to fetch the kids whilst on a work Zoom call? Well, they can’t if you choose to leave a rambling voice message instead. It’s a stellar way to make life easy for you and more of a ball-ache for others.
Start a dull two-way conversation in a group
Want to ask a specific person for advice about whether the new doorbell he bought worked out well for him? Then why not ask him through the squash club group? Then everyone can relish receiving 150 notifications about your deeply tedious conversation.
Split it up
Sending messages sentence by sentence will ensure maximum disturbance, one ‘ping’ at a time. This is particularly effective after midnight and when messaging large groups: there’s nothing your old uni mates will enjoy more than you lighting up their night with a firework display of alerts.
