If you are too distracted by WhatsApp or are looking to reduce your screen time on the app then a minimalist approach can really help you out.

How to use WhatsApp like a minimalist?

Mute conversations that are important but do not require immediate attention.
Archive individual and group chats that are not as important.
Update your privacy settings to avoid sending unwanted signals.
Turn off read receipts.
Unarchive and unmute chats only when you need them.

Why do you need a minimalist approach on WhatsApp?

WhatsApp is one of the most used and common apps globally for people looking to text one another without paying for SMS. It has become the go to for all ages in almost every country (all eyes on you, USA).

Since everyone and their grandmas are on WhatsApp, it is easily a high intensity app bringing in volumes of messages that may distract you:

Personal chats from people you know or work with.
Group chats where the banter can lead to 300+ messages in one hour.
Promotional messages from brands you have signed up to in the past.
Work related group chats that prefer WhatsApp over Slack or Asana.

How do we fix this? We use minimalism to reduce the noise WhatsApp creates. It might be difficult at the beginning but you will get used to it if you are serious about reducing screen time and unwanted distractions.

Mute WhatsApp notifications altogether.

If you are really not keen on being bothered by WhatsApp, you can turn off notifications altogether in your phone's Settings app.

This means that you get to decide when you open and check messages. On the other hand, you might miss out on important messages.

On a different perspective: you might get anxious about the messages you have received and might keep checking the app every now and then.

Muting all notifications on WhatsApp is only possible/likely when you have people who call or iMessage you instead of using WhatsApp for every instance.

Using Scheduled Summary for WhatsApp.

In your phone settings, you can turn on Scheduled Summary - on iOS, you can choose when you receive these notifications: I used to choose 12 PM, 3 PM and 6 PM.

Over time, I decided to give up on Scheduled Summary because I ended up missing a few quick call requests that were made on WhatsApp groups for work.

It was much better than downright turning off notifications for WhatsApp but it was not the best solution out there.

If you can live with receiving notifications every 60 minutes without detrimental effects, then I highly recommend using Scheduled Summary on iOS 17 and above! On Android, I believe there should be a similar setting or an app that can do that for you.

Reducing distractions within WhatsApp itself.

So far we have seen how we can reduce our distractions by using methods on our operating systems. These are stone cold measures that have major drawbacks if WhatsApp is the app you rely on for personal and work related communication.

Now let's look at how we can reduce distractions and screen time with settings within the app.

Mute WhatsApp conversations based on their level of importance.

Open WhatsApp and go through each conversation or chat. Start from the bottom and you will notice that there are conversations from years ago that aren't active or in use.

You can start off by muting these conversations. Long press the conversation in the list and select 'Mute,' followed by 'Always.' This will forever mute notifications from the conversation (mentions in groups are an exception).

Once you reach the top, you will realise that 80% of your conversations are those that are not as important (Pareto Principle, eh?)

Archive WhatsApp conversations to reduce the clutter.

People use WhatsApp in many innovative ways:

Groups for making plans.
Communities for announcements.
Self message chat option for notes.

It is easy to lose precious time trying to find the right chat or get involved in a group chat rather than texting your work group on your progress.

This is where WhatsApp's archive feature comes in; you can send chats to an archive section where chats can remain.

On WhatsApp, go to Settings > Chat. Then, make sure you select "Archived conversations remain archived."

This means that a conversation will not unarchive itself if someone messages you. What that does is it gives you the power to check unimportant conversations only when you need it.

The main page of WhatsApp will have chats that you decide are important or are from close friends and family members.

Even with these chats, you can mute them to see the context only when you open the app. You can use the pin feature to access chats and groups you really frequent.

Update privacy settings on WhatsApp

Go to Settings > Privacy inside the WhatsApp app (sounds weird saying that, NGL).

Set to the following:

Profile photo - contacts only
Last seen and online - nobody
About - my contacts
Who can add me to groups - my contacts/nobody
Read receipts - off (you will thank me later)
Disappearing messages - off (subjective but you will hear my thoughts soon)

Here are my reasonings:

You don't want non contacts to look at your profile photo changes and start a conversation; if possible, no profile picture is the best.
Last seen and online status is turned off so that no one can see when I am online; I don't want people double texting me if I haven't replied to their message in some time.
'About' is a small status you can set to tell people what you are up to (the original use case WhatsApp started with); I don't want non-contacts looking at it and starting a conversation with me.
I don't let anyone add me to groups since it can be spam or I can be distracted by a new group invading my WhatsApp main-page; I add myself to groups and archive them right away.
Read receipts being turned off are anti-headache; if someone knows that you have read a message they might double text you. On the contrary, if you open a chat you have no energy to reply to at that specific time, you will find yourself taking extra efforts to reply (because you don't want to leave them on read).
I don't let messages disappear since I use the search bar on WhatsApp often to find a specific chat rather than scrolling inside a conversation to find it.

Unarchiving and unmuting conversations on WhatsApp

You should unarchive and unmute conversations only when you need them. Here are some examples.

I play football with various different groups; on days I am not playing, I will archive the group and let them have their own discussion. On the day I am playing, I will unarchive the group for updates a few hours before the match. This helps me stay up to date with teams and jersey colour I will need to wear.
If I am meeting someone on a given day, that's when I unarchive and unmute them. This lets me plan and alter plans if needed as well as get updates on their whereabouts.
If I have joined a group for an event that's happening two weeks from now, I will not bother until the day of the event.

Understanding WhatsApp Minimalism as a whole

The goal of using minimalism on WhatsApp is to reduce screen time as well as distractions.

WhatsApp can also lead to different emotions: going to check a tweet or stock prices when someone sends a message about it. All of it can create a sense of worry that you do not need at all.

Minimalist behaviour on WhatsApp is selfish and it protects your own interests. Use it carefully.

If you are looking for something more stubborn, then use WhatsApp only on your laptop or desktop using the web or standalone app instead of the phone.

I have a guide on reducing screen time in general as well as on Instagram.

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