Disadvantaged of WeChat

The Disadvantage of WeChat

On an ordinary morning, I woke up with the alarm clock’s ringing. I turned off the alarm, stretched myself and checked my phone. Then I was astonished to find there were more than 100 messages unread on WeChat. What’s more, since the number of unread messages was marked in red at the upper-right corner of WeChat icon, I could clearly notice it was continually increasing in a fast speed. I was in a state of panic wondering what happened and how anxious my friends were because I failed to get their messages right away when I was needed until I opened my WeChat and found myself in a strange new group filled by hundreds of advertisements. It turned out to be a cosmetic propaganda group set up by one of my once-met “acquaintances” who has decided to do business on WeChat recently. This phenomenon points out one of the disadvantages of WeChat which has taken its toll on our daily use—any friends on your contacts’ list could have you and other strangers in one group without your permission even realization.

I cannot tell whether this is a bug or a special design of WeChat, but for sure it does have caused lots of problems which slashed my user experience. In addition to the unpleasant morning I illustrate in the first paragraph, other inconveniences are also common to see in people around. In some groups we’re put in passively, our privacy may in danger. Charming girls are requested to be friends by strangers, naïve students expose themselves to criminal gangs, old people are cheated by illegal ads to buy “health products” that may cause stroke even heart attack, and gracious people who would never delete their “friend’s group” are troubled by hundreds of useless messages every day.

Therefore, it seems necessary to make some improvements, which, in some senses, is not so hard. As far as I’m concerned, the most powerful solution is to give us users the initiative to decide whether joining a group or not, it means to ask for our permission by sending a “group-entering request” when we’re invited into a group. Besides, it would be better if one is required qualification to be a group owner, for instance, those usually being blocked or shielded are banned to set up groups. In the end, I sincerely hope this problem could be solved as soon as possible!