This week, one listener wrote into Moncrieff to express their anger at the "petty" content of their neighbourhood Whatsapp group.
They were left "enraged" after being kicked out.
Barbara Scully joined the show to talk about the widely used neighbourhood watch system and the woes of the listener.
The question:
"I’m a member of a neighbourhood whatsapp group because there can be helpful information in there about security issues, community announcements etc."
"However, the amount of petty complaints in there (usually by the same five or ten people) has been sending me over the edge."
"They regularly throw in comments about bins blown over in the wind, teenagers hanging around the playground in the evenings, house alarms going off, dogs barking etc."
"I blew up on it the other day and called out a few of the contributors for their bullshit and how they like to stir the pot making trouble for otherwise decent neighbours, and they’ve kicked me out of the group!"
"I’m enraged, all I did was tell them a few home truths. Am I being unreasonable?"
Barbara's thoughts:
"They're wonderful, the neighbourhood Whatsapp groups. They're awful. They're funny. They're irritating."
"Some rules, first of all, if you're in a neighbourhood Whatsapp group."
"Number one is mute it. Don't have it going, because every so often it'll go on fire about nothing in particular that's of any use to anybody only the couple of people who are having the conversation."
"Second, if you're in a neighbourhood Whatsapp group, please do not feel you always have to respond to something."
Overreacting
"Did you overreact? Yeah, you did."
"Most of what goes in there is not being directed personally at you."
"You've got kicked out now so you're not going to be involved in it so you're problem is solved."
"It's a bit like social media, most people are watching but they're not actually engaging, so his mistake was to engage."
"I don't know how he thought he could go on and call them all out and it not result in him getting chucked out of the Whatsapp group."
Main image shows a man using WhatsApp on a phone. Picture by: True Images/Alamy
