Ghanaian Prof Recommends WhatsApp Be Banned During Working Hours, you agree?

Trycolyn Pikirayi Avatar

Are you one of those whose new year’s resolutions are “to be more productive by cutting out on social media”? something you’ve been telling yourself you were first introduced to social media.

If we were in Ghana, I would be saying no worries right now, but oh well…

I’m sure we agree that the most addictive of the social media networks is WhatsApp… or maybe Twitter (once you get the hang of it)… or Facebook if you’re old fashioned like that (no pun intended whatsoever).

I just came across an article on how a Ghanaian professor (Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast) recommended that the government bans WhatsApp during working hours and I thought it would make an interesting light discussion.

In as much as the Professor’s suggestion sounds absurd, let’s face it, some of us need that.

I know you might not be one of those people, but trust me I have seen how distractive WhatsApp can be. It’s even worse when one is using WhatsApp web. All those notifications popping on the computer screen screaming “read me, engage me”.

It’s even worse when one is in denial. Some people don’t realise how bad the addiction is. They think it’s probably just 2 minutes of their time every now and then, but truth is it’s more than that. After reading that text or worse, a chat, you’d need time to process what you read, and then get back in the zone. Getting back in the zone is not a minute’s work, I know of people who take as much as 15 or  so minutes to ‘regroup’ before they can execute the task at hand.

Look at it in singles, that might not be as bad but once you understand the power of compound, that then becomes a different story. Now imagine what difference it would make if all that time was spent on more productive endeavours.

If the government were to take up such suggestions and enforce them, of course there would be retaliation from the citizens, not to mention how difficult it is to enforce such. However, I think over time, it would become the new normal, I mean it’s only valid during working hours which often stretch from 8am – 5pm. After 5pm, people can knock themselves out.

It will be interesting to see how the Ghanaian government reacts to this. If they go for it, how will they implement it without violating other basic rights? Also, say they successfully implement it, then would you recommend Zimbabwe adopts such a law?

I already have an idea of which side employers will be on…

 

16 comments

  1. noxie

    i support this …..honestly that app can be distractive…i have been trying to control it but still my efforts were to no avail

    1. Asante sana

      Whatsapp is a business communication tool. Its effective realtime. No need to meet for feedback of feedforward.

      Most of business coms so far are on whatsapp. Daily updates on prohects. Routine and new instructions can still be passed via whatsapp.

      Emergence notices and requests can be done via whatsapp and are being done via whatsapp.

      Whatsapp leaves a record of comms anywhere

    2. Asante sana

      But you can turn off data or connectivity on your phablet, tablet or smartphone right, whenever you feel you do not want to be whatsapp.

      You do not government to control this habbit for you. Or you just ignore no one would dare ask or demand attention on whatsapp

  2. Anonymous

    I think he doesn’t know what his talking about :::

  3. Stephen Mudere

    This dude should look for friends to chat with. This should be done early before the situation gets out of control.

  4. Caleb Chihota

    I don’t think but i know that he is right. Because some people end up not attending to their customers whilst they are busy sending whatsapp messages to their contacts during working hours ignoring the customers they are employed to serve. Some people are now virtually being controlled by whatsapp can’t discipline themselves. Some even interrupt meetings using whatsapp.

  5. Richard Masango

    But some organizations are using whatsup platforms to commmmunicate with everyone in their organization I wonder how they will start communicating if whatsup is banned

  6. J

    I personally think the whole issue lies on self discipline and objective of using this Whatsapp Messenger.Like someone has mentioned,quite a number of companies are now using this messenger productively to communicate with their personel on important matters that need urgent attention like calling for meetings,coordinating operations,updating each other on matters concerning work.This I think isnot a problem.When it comes to a case where there is a mixture of issues on the platform then problems start.The important thing is to seperate work ralated issues and social related issues and one has to have the discipline to keep these two separated and knowing when to respond respectively.Self discipline,discipline discipline!!!!!! then whatsapp becomes meaningful to use.

  7. Josiah Toin Josia

    I personally think the whole issue lies on self discipline and objective of using this Whatsapp Messenger.Like someone has mentioned,quite a number of companies are now using this messenger productively to communicate with their personel on important matters that need urgent attention like calling for meetings,coordinating operations,updating each other on matters concerning work.This I think isnot a problem.When it comes to a case where there is a mixture of issues on the platform then problems start.The important thing is to seperate work ralated issues and social related issues and one has to have the discipline to keep these two separated and knowing when to respond respectively.Self discipline,discipline discipline!!!!!! then whatsapp becomes meaningful to use.

  8. Normie

    When I saw the heading I quickly said to myself, “it depends with the nature of work”. We’ve always been sensitized of the dangers of anything destructive whilst operating machinery. I also became a bit defensive of my profession as an academic that we dearly need social media since it has been highly integrated in learning management systems. My breath temporarily stopped when I realised that the lobbying was coming from Pro VC of a university. Truly the Prof is out of touch with reality. Banning is too crude, rather more efforts should be sought tap into the endless benefits of social media in the work environment. WhatsApp for instant now can send PDF, word documents etc.

  9. 2018

    Pure madness id say it depends where you work where I work we are not allowed mobiles as we have to be PCI (payment card industry) as we deal with a lot of sensitive data. Button most industries why would employees be on whats app boredom, not enough salary etc… so employers also have to check as to why it’s happening in their companies aswell

  10. RsTade

    Stupid idea. This professor fails to understand the problem entirely. The problem is not WhatsApp but the culture of laziness that the civil services sector indulges in. Since the government workers are lazy and do not provide a good service because they are playing on WhatsApp this professor wants to ban WhatsApp for the whole country.Instead they should fire those workers who have better things to do on WhatsApp and hire people who are more focused. Besides WhatsApp is now an integral part of doing business for some in the private sector so why cripple the country’s economy in such a stupid way.

    1. 2018

      Harsh but 100% correct employers do not want high staff turnover so find out why employees cannot wait till breaks and lunch to use social media

  11. Wengai

    Instant messaging is just another part of human evolution. Humans need to get through this phase to move smoothly to the next level. To block whatsapp would be suppression of a natural biomechanical evolution of human beings. In the near future all this frenzy about whatsapp and instant messaging will be replaced by something that will continue to add value to human life. Obviously just like alcohol, workplaces can have stickers around where whatsapp or instant messaging is not allowed, especially in hazardous areas or where high attentiveness is required. We are human, we dont get better by being suppressed!

    1. Wengai

      Or call it socio-biomechanical

      1. 2018

        Lol in probably people use a lot becuase they do not get free mins so always inn whats app its cheapest means of communication locally in some parts of the world its there but not used so much locally and defo not for business as its informal mostly used to communicate with people abroad if Zim had a good ISP then consumers could get unlimited calls to all local no.s inc. Mobiles unlimited sms 20GB $15 per month you would find people use whats app less and less but the ISPs need to get their act together

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