What's with this rule about not discussing work matters on t

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What's with this rule about not discussing work matters through texting? I have a close friend at work and he sometimes texts me if I've had a day off and tells me on the text if there's anything I need to know, like if someone is off sick or something.
But when I said to my supervisor that I already know something because my friend had texted me, my supervisor said that we shouldn't discuss any work-related matters on text.

This isn't the only job I've been told this in either. But why? Every person I've ever met discuss work matters to each other over the phone or via text. I'd understand it if we'd posted it all over social media, but I'm talking about private texts, between two friends that work together, on our personal phones. Surely nobody can't dictate what you can and can't send to your own workfriends on your own phone. And during lockdown, work is all we can talk about at the moment, as we're not doing anything else with our lives.

Or is everybody's conversations via text messaging being watched nowadays?

Texting services are not absolutely secure.  It is possible to compromise corporate security by texting.

So you can't even send text messages to your own friends without someone watching?

So a message will pop up.on my boss's computer saying "Joe90 has sent this message to [co-worker]"?

I didn't mean to tell the supervisor, I blurted out that I already knew something which I wouldn't have known before I arrived into work that day if my friend hadn't texted me, so I couldn't exactly deny how I knew. But my boss was going to tell me about it anyway, so it's not like it was supposed to be top secret or something.

My boyfriend got fired from his job last year but his workmates still text him saying what's been going on.

AND my supervisor texts one of the other colleagues on his day off to ask what's been going on. I know he's a supervisor and that it may seem like he has a right to know what's going on when he's not there but if he really had to be updated then surely he'd do it the professional way like via email to the boss. But he doesn't.

So it proves that everybody does it and people have been doing it since text messaging was first invented.

There is a saying when it comes to emails, and text messages: Never leave a paper trail. Why? Because what is written down cannot be taken away and can be held against you. This rule also applies to social media. I have a story about a coworker at my workplace from a few years back.

On an off day of work an employee posted on his Facebook that he couldn't wait to get to the gym and hit the punching bags. The problem with him posting this was the fact that he was on modified duties at work and our work setting is a warehouse setting. So him wanting to do gym activities was going to be frowned upon by the senior workers as his modified duties had forced a senior employee to trade places with him. This was also on day shift and accommodations are easier to come by on afternoons or overnights. This also wasn't going to sit well with management as it told them he was not willing to put as much effort into the workplace as he was at the gym. He did have numerous coworkers as friends on Facebook and predictably someone said something to management.
A few days later, he came to the table where I sat with his trainer during lunch break. He then asked the trainer to provide a written statement saying he wasn't at the gym that day. I don't know what happened from there, but I knew immediately when he asked for the statement that he got busted and was now trying to get out of trouble. Short while later, he was moved to another shift where he had better odds of getting accommodated.

This employee no longer works at our company, but my understanding is the details in the story aren't the reason why.

Unless it's a "need to know" sort of thing, one should not text a co-worker on anything related to the job. Especially, you shouldn't gossip about someone else via text.

Just don't tell your supervisor next time. You didn't commit a cardinal sin.

I think it's a pretty dumb rule. It's a free country, ain't it?

Yep. It’s a free country.

This is sort of similar to HIPAA in America.

It has to do with being confidential and not revealing stuff about your workplace or your coworkers to the outside world.

Yes, a lot of this new stuff is absurd.

But if it's stuff you know anyway or are going to know, surely it's not hurting anyone? Like I said, people do it all the time. My boyfriend was fired from his job a year ago but his workmates still keep in touch and tell him what's going on at work through text. Also sometimes I like to get things off my chest about work so I text my good friend (who I work with) to chat.

I don't really believe all these conspiracy theories about your text messages not being private. Yes the government may somehow be able to see your text messages (don't know how or why) but as long as they're not revealed to the public or directly to the company, it shouldn't be much of a problem. I ain't going to stop doing it, as EVERYBODY does it. I bet even the boss does it.
With today's technology, nothing is 100% private, you are always being watched. But as long as you're not plotting or committing any crimes then nobody really gives a s**t.

Just don’t mention it to your boss.

There are a couple of reasons, good and bad.

First, the company should have the right to control the flow of information. It is not up to the employees to decide when and what information is shared. There could be legitimate reasons for doing this that you don't understand--it might impact one of your colleagues and if you get it wrong, it could have an impact on them. And with informal routes of communication, it is hard to answer questions and offer clarification.

There are bad reasons too. Limiting information exchange among employees give more power to management. It prevents employees from organizing to advocate for themselves. It also protects management for unequal treatment of employees, either with things like pay or discipline.

BTW, depending on your employment contract, sharing information is not illegal or even against your contract, even if your boss does not like it.