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Comment on Signal – an ethical replacement for WhatsApp

I wish I could do this, but trying to convince people to ditch an app they’ve never had problems with and where they all have their family, friends, work groups and school groups already mashed together, how do you convince them? Its not even about me convincing my friends or family, its about everyone else doing the same and when everyone has so many contacts in WhatsApp, that number starts to snowball real quick. Its just not feasible to try and explain this to someone who literally doesn’t care. I mean even though I myself know what Meta is and how Zuck is complete asshole, I still can’t switch off of WhatsApp because nobody I know is on Signal and I’d just be alone there. What’s the point? WhatsApp is pretty much the first app anyone installs on their phone (regardless of platform), they’re not gonna switch now.

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ElcidBarrett@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

WhatsApp is pretty much the first app anyone installs on their phone

Is this really the case?

Maybe it’s a regional thing. I’m in the northeast US, and nearly everyone I know uses Facebook Messenger as their main form of communication, even people who don’t touch Facebook at all. I hate Messenger for the same reasons that people hate WhatsApp, but I still have to use it because my entire social circle does. If I want to message someone outside Messenger without giving my phone number out, I use my Google Voice number.

I’ve only ever used WhatsApp to talk to work contacts overseas, and I’ve only ever used Signal to talk to paranoid drug dealers, which is a use case that’s mostly been replaced by Telegram now.

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- Kevnyon@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  In my region in Europe, it really is. EVERYONE uses WhatsApp. I’m not sure the last time I saw someone use SMS, its all WhatsApp. iOS, Android, its all there.
  
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- bystander@lemmy.ca ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Outside of North America, most other countries’ use WhatsApp as a choice for personal and business uses is WhatsApp. Rest are mostly dominated by Facebook messenger. Excluding China which has WeChat domestically.
  
  How Meta was ever allowed to buy WhatsApp without triggering anti-trust laws is beyond me.
  
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  - Kevnyon@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    How Meta was ever allowed to buy WhatsApp without triggering anti-trust laws is beyond me
    
    It was still called Facebook when they bought it.
    
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orgrinrt@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Well, just an anecdote:

I simply deleted my WhatsApp and moved to signal. Just did it.

People installed the app, at least the ones that cared about staying in touch. Which was most everyone I cared about staying in touch with. A few of my friend groups also moved the group chat to signal, though all of them do have other ones with the people who didn’t care enough to move too, but I hear it isn’t that big a deal, they had multiple groups before and will have in future, doesn’t really feel like any extra hassle they say.

It’s been fine. No problems. I’ve had more trouble trying to explain to my extended family why I’m no longer posting on instagram. Those I never had in WhatsApp either back in the day, so they “stayed in touch” by watching my pictures I suppose. But I just consistently tell people they can reach me always via signal or plain old sms.

I guess the biggest thing to be scared about would be fomo for most, but I don’t really care enough, I’ve got so much going on already that it’s more of a blessing that I don’t have to be involved in every conversation or meme sharing or whatever.

It really gets so easy after simply switching. Just do it and that’s that. The people worth anything come with you, it’s just another app and another group chat or personal chat. Most already have discord and the meta messenger whatever its name is these days anyway. I know zero people with only one messenger/chat app and unsplintered groups across them. It’s not a big chore, and if it is, there’s always sms.

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- Kevnyon@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  I guess the biggest thing to be scared about would be fomo for most
  
  I don’t mind missing out on some things, but I would mind missing out on literally all of the things. Everyone is on WhatsApp and trying to convince people to switch to a different app when, from their perspective, their current app has over 99% uptime, their kids, their family, their extended family, their friends, all are on WhatsApp. Its the same for me, its everyone. Its just a different situation in Europe.
  
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oakward@feddit.org ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Just ditch WhatsApp. Don’t give in to social pressure to install malware on your phone

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- Kevnyon@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  There’s nobody on Signal, that’s the problem. If I want to miss out on all of my group conversations, work conversations, messages between myself and others, then yeah, I can switch. But if I want to receive any messages at all, I have to keep WhatsApp installed.
  
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- echodot@feddit.uk ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  The problem is there’s no one on signal that I want to talk to. So “just ditch the app” isn’t actually helpful.
  
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  - VintageGenious@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Just need to move everyone. Not that hard honestly, if you are around smart people
    
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    echodot@feddit.uk ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    " It’s not that hard really all you have to do is be around people who already want to move over". Yeah thanks for that advice.
    
    I have a very similar strategy to being rich, step one is to be rich already. Simplicity itself.
    
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ieGod@lemmy.zip ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Yep. I know the details. I’m tech savvy enough, but I use what my contacts use, and I’m not leaving WhatsApp. Same goes for youtube. The content I consume is there. There is no suitable alternative until the content creators switch. It’s not really about the technology at all.

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