The Reasons Behind My Frequent Self-Messages on Social Platforms: Insights and Thoughts

Quick Links

• I Use Telegram as an Unlimited Cloud Storage Solution
• Slack is My Idea Locker and the Key To My Work Life Balance
• WhatsApp Is My Go-to For File Transfers and Quick Notes
• Messaging Yourself Is a Quick and Easy Way to Be More Efficient

Key Takeaways

• Telegram offers unlimited cloud storage for files but with limitations: maximum file size and no end-to-end encryption.
• Slack can be used to store interesting articles and draft messages to avoid typos.
• WhatsApp allows easy note-taking, link saving, and file transfer between devices by messaging yourself.

Most social media apps have a “message yourself” feature that can be used to improve your organization and efficiency, yet many people don’t even know it’s possible. I message myself every day. Here’s how I use it to keep on top of my life.

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I Use Telegram as an Unlimited Cloud Storage Solution

As a messaging app, I don’t use Telegram much because most people I talk to already use WhatsApp. As a cloud storage solution, however, Telegram is a godsend.

Telegram allows you to save an unlimited number of images, documents, and videos to the cloud at no cost. It does this through “Saved Messages,” which is basically Telegram’s iteration of messaging yourself. How it works is you start a chat with yourself and then send your media files to yourself just like you would with a regular chat. These files are then stored in the cloud, and you can retrieve them whenever you want.

However, before you get too excited, there are some caveats. The first is that while you can upload an unlimited number of files, the size of each file is capped at a maximum of 2GB—or 4GB if you’re willing to pay for Telegram Premium . So, if you were thinking of uploading 4K videos to the cloud, I’m sorry to disappoint you.

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Another thing to consider is that Telegram doesn’t have end-to-end encryption enabled in saved messages, so your uploads don’t have the maximum security protection. Also—and this might be my paranoia talking—I’m a little skeptical of anybody offering unlimited free cloud storage.

As a result, I only use Telegram’s cloud service for non-critical files that I don’t mind others potentially seeing. For example, I recently converted some old CDs into digital media and uploaded them to Telegram as a backup.

If you want to turn Telegram into your cloud storage, tap the hamburger button in the app and select “Saved Messages.”

Slack is My Idea Locker and the Key To My Work Life Balance

My job as a writer means that I constantly have to stay on top of tech trends and happenings. To do that, I’ve set up my RSS reader so that I get a bunch of articles from my favorite publications every morning. Before I started messaging myself on Slack, I used to bookmark articles that I found interesting, only to promptly lose them in the mess that is my bookmark folder. Fortunately, I discovered a much simpler alternative.

Now, when I find an article that catches my eye, I simply share it with myself on Slack. It is so much more convenient since I don’t need to worry about whether I’m putting the right bookmark in the right folder. I can send everything to myself on Slack and return to the articles at a later time.

An incidental benefit of doing this is that it helps me keep my work and personal life separate. All my work stuff lives on Slack, and there’s less chance that I’ll get carried away by it during my downtime. Another cool thing about messaging myself on Slack is that I can use it when drafting messages.

Slack is annoying in the sense that, by default, the enter key operates to send messages. If you’re like me, then you’ve probably accidentally sent out an incomplete message when all you were trying to do was move to the next line. Having made that mistake numerous times myself, I now draft important messages in a chat with myself before sending them out. That way, I avoid embarrassing slip-ups.

To message yourself on Slack, click the icon for a new direct message and type your name into the search box. You should see your name with a “(You)” next to it. Select it, and start writing yourself.

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WhatsApp Is My Go-to For File Transfers and Quick Notes

WhatsApp is the messaging app I use the most, so I get a lot of messages on it. Some of these messages are important and require me to remember things. That’s where messaging myself comes in, as I can quickly make notes and to-do lists right there on WhatsApp. I prefer doing this to opening my notes app because it has fewer steps and gets the job done just as well.

Another thing I love to do with this feature is forward links to myself. I’m on a bunch of group chats, and sometimes my friends send links to articles or funny YouTube videos. I’m not always able to open these links right away, but I also don’t want to forget about them or have them get buried under countless other messages and links. What I do instead is forward them to myself for later viewing. That way I have all the things I want to see in one place and it’s more manageable.

The last and perhaps most important use of the message yourself feature on WhatsApp—at least to me—is file transfers. Any messages, documents, or media you send to yourself on WhatsApp automatically becomes available on all other devices where you are signed in. I take advantage of this to quickly send documents, pictures, and whatever else I need between my phone and PC.

To send a message to yourself on WhatsApp, tap the “New Chat” button. Look for your number listed under contacts, with “Message Yourself” written below. Tap on it to initiate a chat with yourself. Additionally, you can save this contact and assign it a name. I’ve named mine “My Notes.”

Messaging Yourself Is a Quick and Easy Way to Be More Efficient

Texting yourself can save you so much time and is a quick and easy way to organize your life. In fact, it’s so important to me that I pin my conversations with myself so that they are easily accessible all the time. If you have sensitive things in your chat with yourself, you can also lock your chat and safeguard it from prying eyes.