57 messages in one day: parent group chats spiral out of control

Message groups are a lifesaver for many busy parents but they can also be a nuisance. (Image: Depositphotos)

Mon, 23 Oct 2023

By Tara WeissJolie Hunt got her first brush with the reach of WhatsApp during a recent messaging thread of New York City parents arranging a pizza playdate for their first-graders.Hunt opened the group chat after a work meeting and saw 27 messages. “I thought, ‘Oh, no. There’s been a fire,’” said Hunt, the mother of two elementary-school children and chief executive of a communications consulting firm.There was no fire, just the minutiae of a typical parent text chain – one after the other, seemingly without...

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