Imagine you calling up someone on a Monday morning and instead of hearing the voice of a friend or family member; you hear someone coughing into your ear and then comes an advisory on coronavirus.
After top telecom companies replaced the default caller tunes with an advisory on coronavirus, users were left confused and some even upset. The Twitterati was all abuzz with messages for and against this advisory.
The mobile service providers introduced a pre-call announcement on coronavirus after the Government directed the telecom companies to enable the message that begins with a sudden coughing sound.
The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare's advisory states the various precautions one can take for keeping the virus away. It also lists a helpline number —+91-11-23797-8046.
On the Jio network, the announcement is heard only if a user does not have a pre-assigned caller tune. Additionally, users can deactivate this caller tune simply by activating a new caller tune and this also means more profits for telecom service providers as users are already getting 'annoyed' over the announcement, hence, opting for a caller tune of their choice.
Bharti Airtel also started implementing a similar mechanism to raise awareness about the pandemic among its users and the step again received a mixed response.
Though there were messages making rounds of the social media that pressing a certain button while the announcement was playing would put it off but it didn't work as this reporter personally tried pressing the button while the announcement was on.
Netizens made sure to share their experience over social media and as always, the percentage of people feeling annoyed at such a strategy was more.
The Twitterati also expressed a mixed response with some users saying that the announcement was "too long" or potentially "dangerous" with others terming it as a welcome move for spreading "awareness".
Users also said that though this is a good way of spreading awareness among the masses about a virus, which is claiming several lives every day, it also is a 'pain' to hear the message 15 times a day with some calling it 'invasion to privacy'.
