Always Online

One thing I've learnt about social media and instant messaging is that you are only as important to people as the time you spend on it, putting in effort to show people your presence. The less you text, the less people are going to bother texting you. If you text at night, you are bound to receive replies in the morning, and that's the cycle of always having new chats on your chat list. You text now, and you will receive replies later, keeping you hooked all the time.
I recently reduced my whatsapp usage by moving the app to a secondary phone that I don't carry around with me all the time. Especially at work, I carry a phone that only has the bare minimum utilities installed, and nothing more. During the initial week when I started this, I'd leave my phone at home at around 9 in the morning, and by the time I reached home from work, I'd have received about 20 messages from different people/groups. It was mighty difficult to reply to everyone. I then actively informed those that I text regularly about how work is really hectic and I'm always short of time, and that I might not reply that often.
About 3 weeks in now, I rarely receive texts from non group chats.

Life's like that. You are only as important to others as you show them their importance in your life. They'll vanish the minute you stop bothering, and for them you'll be a mere once-upon-a-time.

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