Why I Quit The School WhatsApp Group – And You Should Too

It’s easy to pinpoint the moment I realised I had to leave the school WhatsApp group. I was away for the weekend and should’ve been feeling relaxed – after all, someone else was looking after my children and for the first time in months I didn’t have to get up at 6am to watch ‘Peppa Pig’.

But rather than whiling away the hours reading a book, or going for a walk, or enjoying a pub lunch, I found myself typing furiously on my phone to another parent about why she shouldn’t post scaremongering hoax videos to the Year Two parents thread.

It was interesting to notice just how wound up it made me, arguing with a virtual stranger.  My heart started racing, my hands were shaking, my temper grew short – and I couldn’t seem to stop butting in. I was so sure I was right.

And it helped to have support as other parents started piling in: taking sides, weighing in with their opinions. I started getting secret, separate, “hell yeah!” messages from buddies who agreed with me, but were too afraid to say it out loud.

My children’s school is fairly big – there are three classes and 90 pupils in a year. If every parent got involved with WhatsApp, that could be as many as 180 names on the notification list. Not everyone joins in, of course, but those who do tend to be the ones who’ll do anything to make their voices heard.

Confession time: that used to be me.