Email, docs, music, maps etc have reasonable alternatives and you don’t depend on others to switch (a gmail user will receive my email from tuta). But with WhatsApp either you conceal and use it or you just don’t talk to people (tried convincing them to switch to signal and it simply doesn’t happen)
How do you deal with it?
Got my entire family on Signal.
Never used it. I have app fatigue. I am forced to download so many apps, make so many accounts, I really dont want to make another one. Sucks to hear how few options some countries have. The people who matter wont care how you want to keep in touch.
People from the United States can’t understand how difficult is for us who live in countries where WhatsApp is used for everything, they can’t understand this trend began even before Meta bought Whatsapp. In Mexico is a nightmare without WhatsApp because is the main source of communication not only for the people but for your job, delivery, assistance and more. So basically what you can do is to have a device for WhatsApp and another for your private life
I have two profiles on my GOS and Wapp lives on one of them. However, i manage people expectations telling them that my Wapp phone is almost always off so they know that if its urgent, they need to call or use Signal. Eventually people will understand and if they dont, i am not prepared to live my life by the needs if others. I lived at a time where there were no mobile phones. Life worked the same, albeit at a slower pace. People, we really dont need to be hyperconnected. Relax and let people understand that yheir mental status will improve once they put some rules between them and their mobile devices.
I don’t have Whatsapp and I will never use it. If people don’t want to use Signal, Telegram, XMPP, Matrix, SimpleX, or Delta Chat, we will talk over RCS/SMS.
Sms is now so developped, sending pictures and videos, calling is one click away, no need to install or update : it is surprisingly useful. Then you have the same issue with Wechat for Chinese communities
SMS is only text. Pictures and videos are MMS which, in many countries, are not configured by default, are not included in plans and cost a lot, around 0.20€/MMS.
Ah ! I am in France, did not knew that sorry
Only problem is that ive started noticing telcoms are discouraging their use by limiting number of sms on monthly plan. Wonder why …?
I find not having friends helps with this
All my friends went cold turkey when I canceled all Facebook products two years ago. I switched to signal; some were using it already, some followed me, some use both. Screw the rest; they can use SMS, or snail mail, it turns out they were unreflective jerks to begin with. Culling is always refreshing. Admittedly, with signal being USA based, I will probably switch to a EU service soon, so the fun starts all over 🤪
Im hearing more and more about Deltachat. Where is it based?
hard to say, I don’t use WhatsApp, i deleted it when FB bought it, yes, that long ago.
Don’t use it. Refuse to talk with anyone that says they want me to use it. It’s been working great.
Had to install and use an anonymous number that no one has for like 2 things that I was really in need to for interacting with some businesses though and for when many people were laid off in the company and that’s where I needed to find some info.
Either I use Signal only or SMS which has worked great for many years. Now with RCS it’s the same as any other internet based chat even with video calls.
I’m confused. If you want security, why do you prefer SMS to whatapp?
Either all or nothing. But for certain not contributing to the destruction of humanity by using Meta products.
Its easy. I have never used WhatsApp. I refuse to install or use any meta apps.
I use WhatsApp without any Android rights other than foreground data usage. I still check my messages once a day, but if someone wants to reach me now, they have to use signal. It also makes it at least less bad for privacy.
My close circle of friends and family do use signal for me and I only get relevant messages every few days on WhatsApp, but getting rid of it still isn’t possible in my situation.
Naomi Brockwell TV on YT or Odyssey had a video about that, forgot the name. You basically make it more painful to communicate on other platforms, reward for using your preferred platform (e.g. offer tickets to a game through preferred platform).
Don’t expect people to move completely, including close friends
The few people who really care about me, agreed to contact me via SMS.
The close family even uses XMPP for me.I use like five different messengers for different friend groups. I wish I had the confidence and determination of my brother who singlehandedly forced my entire extended family to exclusively use Signal amongst each other He basically blackmailed them lmao but it worked and after 1 month of adjusting noone complained
you know Beeper? Might be really useful for you
It takes time. I’ve been “indoctinating” my family fo years. And that really just means reinforcing things we all, “regular” people included, know about big tech. Part of that meant straight up telling them I wouldn’t use anything other than Signal. That worked, and a few years later I now have my mom on Linux. Sometimes doing the right thing means being stubborn and putting your foot down
Edit: my parents have both become open source evangelists, and my mom has asked me more than once the difference between Free Software and oss. My parents are also both pretty conservative so it wasn’t easy to turn them. But like I said. Put your foot down. Tell them you are doing the right thing, and if it comes to it, withold tech support 😂
This inspired me
i patiently explain why i refuse to use it and then speak about the preferable alternatives
