"Leaving corner of X&Y at 2 sharp for a quick 20-min walk. Join me!"
October 2, 2021 11:42 AM Subscribe
How can my neighbors and I send out impromptu announcements that inspire us to leave our chairs for quick walks during the workday? What's the optimal tech for this?
We're all 40+ and weary and wary of being forced to get yet another app. So whatever solution should be fairly straightforward and low tech, not require joining something bigger than it needs to be (i.e., Facebook, Slack), and allow for turning on instant notifications only for this one group.
I have a lot of neighbors within three blocks who either work from home or are retired. All of us agree we need to get out more. Much of it is because we're tied to our home desks and have trouble taking breaks without someone or something else pulling us away. So my thought is some clean, simple group tool that allows any one of us to fire off a quick invite to draw others out on short notice.
Not everyone uses/likes/wants a lot of tech tools, and nobody wants their phone blowing up all day with unrelated notifications. All of us text, all of us have smartphones. If I'm to suggest we all get yet another app, it needs to be stripped-down simple and allow for group-specific notifications. All I can think of is maybe a WhatsApp group. Can't be text because we need people to be able to opt in at any time and not have to rely on everyone else to add them to a text group.
What do you suggest?
We're all 40+ and weary and wary of being forced to get yet another app. So whatever solution should be fairly straightforward and low tech, not require joining something bigger than it needs to be (i.e., Facebook, Slack), and allow for turning on instant notifications only for this one group.
I have a lot of neighbors within three blocks who either work from home or are retired. All of us agree we need to get out more. Much of it is because we're tied to our home desks and have trouble taking breaks without someone or something else pulling us away. So my thought is some clean, simple group tool that allows any one of us to fire off a quick invite to draw others out on short notice.
Not everyone uses/likes/wants a lot of tech tools, and nobody wants their phone blowing up all day with unrelated notifications. All of us text, all of us have smartphones. If I'm to suggest we all get yet another app, it needs to be stripped-down simple and allow for group-specific notifications. All I can think of is maybe a WhatsApp group. Can't be text because we need people to be able to opt in at any time and not have to rely on everyone else to add them to a text group.
What do you suggest?
There are trade-offs. If you want to reach a wide group with spontaneous messaging, there will be back-and-forth replies, it will be heavy traffic. I'd pick an app that already has wide membership, form a group, invite a bunch of neighbors, accept that some people will miss a spontaneous activity, some people will feel they get too many messages, etc. A neighborhood is a bunch of overlapping venn diagrams. Your immediate neighbors have immediate neighbors who have immediate neighbors, etc. Personally, I *hate* adding apps. Some are iOS only, some will be insecure; I assume they all follow me more than I want. More apps, more notifications, etc. My sort-of spontaneous group uses email because that's the only thing we all actually use.
posted by theora55 at 1:13 PM on October 2, 2021
posted by theora55 at 1:13 PM on October 2, 2021
A common solution to the flooding that always happens in group chats is to form two groups with identical membership, one for “announcements” or “invitations” and one for chit-chat. Suggest that people leave notifications on for the first and mute the second. Any back-and-forth that might end up arising in the announcements group can be gently reminded to take it to chit-chat or, even better, in person. With luck, this norm will be self-enforced. You could even build in reminders to your announcement messages: “I’m going for a walk at three and would love some company! Replies in chit-chat, please”
I don’t think the app matters—anything people already have that supports group chats should work— so much as the personal discipline around sending messages that generate notifications.
posted by Ryon at 2:26 PM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
I don’t think the app matters—anything people already have that supports group chats should work— so much as the personal discipline around sending messages that generate notifications.
posted by Ryon at 2:26 PM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: @spamandkimchi I’ll look into that one. I just looked at my WhatsApp and it does not appear to be possible to make notifications group specific. What I’d want is something that allows for instant audio notifications from just the one group, and not force you to get all notifications if you happen to belong to other groups.
Point taken about flooding. Preference would be that if a message came in and you couldn’t participate, you could simply hit a ‘mute’ to quiet any responses to the one message. The idea here though is that nobody would ever respond. Either you make it or you don’t, but sure, I could see someone popping in to say, “make it five minutes later and I’ll be there!”
posted by AnOrigamiLife at 2:51 PM on October 2, 2021
Point taken about flooding. Preference would be that if a message came in and you couldn’t participate, you could simply hit a ‘mute’ to quiet any responses to the one message. The idea here though is that nobody would ever respond. Either you make it or you don’t, but sure, I could see someone popping in to say, “make it five minutes later and I’ll be there!”
posted by AnOrigamiLife at 2:51 PM on October 2, 2021
Signal allows group specific notifications and it’s a very basic thing to turn that on or off.
posted by Bottlecap at 4:06 PM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Bottlecap at 4:06 PM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Signal is great for this. It’s based on phone number, secure, and has good notification management. Also has desktop version, for cross platform use.
posted by itesser at 5:44 PM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by itesser at 5:44 PM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
WhatsApp can be used on a desktop as well.
But are you over-complicating this? Does it need to be an impromptu gathering, or unknown location? Why don't you start with "every weekday at 2pm at X and Y"? If you want to make it more complex, start using a nearby telephone pole to leave notes.
posted by bashing rocks together at 10:24 PM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
But are you over-complicating this? Does it need to be an impromptu gathering, or unknown location? Why don't you start with "every weekday at 2pm at X and Y"? If you want to make it more complex, start using a nearby telephone pole to leave notes.
posted by bashing rocks together at 10:24 PM on October 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Someone central could put up a very melodious bell or triangle. Ring the bell, do a gentle loop of the immediate block to give everyone else time for putting on shoes.
posted by clew at 12:16 PM on October 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by clew at 12:16 PM on October 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
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WhatsApp seems fine. GroupMe might be worth checking out? They say that group members don't need to have the app installed, they can receive messages via sms text message.
posted by spamandkimchi at 12:15 PM on October 2, 2021