Anymore? I’ve literally never used it. Refused to, even.
I used to not use it. I still don’t. But I used to not use it too.
This article didn’t really give any new reasons not to use WhatsApp. All the reasons stated in the article are already known. I thought this article was about a new breach or something, but it’s a rehash of info that’s been around a while. The article is also a few months old, dating back to April.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, people will use whatever app they’re most comfortable with and whatever app their friends use, regardless of security (“I got nothing to hide!”) or features (“I don’t care about x or y!”). Then you end up like me, using several different apps. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as I like using different apps and seeing how features differ from app to app, like how an app shows link previews, or if it can display a meme by pasting the link in the text box vs having to download the image and attach it in-line. But it’s hard to get people to switch when a lot of people don’t care.
Then you end up like me, using several different apps. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as I like using different apps and seeing how features differ from app to app, like how an app shows link previews, or if it can display a meme by pasting the link in the text box vs having to download the image and attach it in-line.
I want to thank you for this comment. You made me think of something that felt like my mind was expanding a bit. You’re mentioning a kind of personal decentralized attitude towards what apps we use.
Why stuck to just one? Why put all eggs in one basket? Yeah, I know it’s more comfortable. But being comfortable does not make it safe, failure-proof. With this I’m not trying to point out some faux-pas on your thinking. Rather the reverse. You’re hinting at something that bears a lot of meaning.
Instead of me being frustrated because other people won’t change their platforms, I can see that as an opportunity to decentralize my own practices. I can embrace other people’s immobility as both an example of what I should avoid and of being forced to keep a lot of channels open. While they’re stuck into the centralization trap, I’m federating between different instances.
Again, thank you for your comment. It was really eye opening.
This article was AI generated.
This comment was AI generated.
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As a heads up, this posted 4 times.
Yeah, my bad. Mlem is bugging out and it seemed like it didn’t post it at all.
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And lose the ability to interact with all those people that won’t be convinced to switch to less of a software gore?
Yeah, definitely great idea, so rebel & stuff…
Weak sauce. If they value you, they’ll get in touch. If they don’t, they never cared in the first place so what does it matter?
The problem is everybody is using it and its impossible to move to signal etc
For some “everyone” not talking to you is a perk.
The people I most care for use Discord. I worry I will lose constant with most of them if I stop using that too but I’ve never tried to get other to use something else.
Dang, I’m feeling pretty lucky that no one in my life uses WhatsApp. Sounds like that’s not the norm.
In europe literally everybody uses whatsapp you wont be able to do anything without it (docotrs, food delivery, literally every person like friends and familly, corona test results, company customer support, the list goes on)
That’s grossly exaggerated. I live in western Europe and never once used WhatsApp. There are very occasional frictions, like people being surprised I don’t have it. Then when I explain that it’s operated by Facebook, they are also surprised and sometimes are willing to quit themselves.
I live in Europe and I don’t use WhatsApp. Never have. Hasn’t been a problem for me.
Friends and family, sure But in the UK nothing official is using WhatsApp. It’s all SMS or email. In which countries do companies use WhatsApp for customer support?
It’s not nearly as common in the US as it seems to be in many places in Europe.
Also all of South America. Everything from ordering pizza to scheduling a doctor’s appointment. Not having WhatsApp means you are not able to participate in society
True that. I wouldn’t use it, but most of my family only uses that so I need it to stay in touch.
I realized that seemed to be the case as I read further down the thread after commenting.
It’s definitely quite strange to most of us from the US.
I’ve never been to South America… Central America, but even that was a very long time ago… Before smartphones and apps.
There’s a lot of little things like that, that are very different here and we just take for granted without thinking twice. I’m in Argentina and have noticed a ton of stuff like this.
A random example is there’s a handle next to the stove where you close the gas line when it’s not in use. They don’t just have an always on supply of naturals gas ready to leak from the burner if you accidentally twist the knob.
Another one is the freezer will seal itself shut for about 15 seconds after being opened. I thought it was broken the first time I experienced this and tried forcing it open.
I even deleted it for a year, but had to re-install it due to not being able to group chat
I used signal and SMS for people who weren’t on signal
and even signal removed SMS support so now I use it to talk to 3 people on signal
EVERYONE in my backwater country of residence uses WhatsApp and they can’t be bothered to use anything else.
When I say I don’t have that service then they are stumped and can’t think of a way to message me. Fucking morons.
Adults in Austria… Sigh.
Not only everybody, but companies, banks and goverment instances are using it too. Some apps that sends their OTP via WhatsApp. Some companies and instances only reachable.via whatsapp bot and whatnot.
Thats smth that i forgot, corona test results per whatsapp and a lot of companies also just have a whatsapp kontskt on their “kontakt us” page
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in my immediate family (brother and parents) we use signal, but everyone else in my life still uses whatsapp. sadly the zucc has a monopolyomn messaging in europe.
I mean yeah, but i would have no contacts to anyone, here in germany we literally use nothing else, contact to teachers for assignments is lost, couldnt text with my family, would have no contact to my friends etc
But what if you messaged them via SMS, would they refuse to reply back?
Idky most people dont eaven have that on their contract i think
When I send sms to these folks, they don’t even notice that they got a message. “Oh, you sent sms? I don’t use that.”
When I send sms to these folks, they don’t even notice that they got a message. “Oh, you sent sms? I don’t use that.”
A Mark Zuckerberg Production
noooo. please.keep boomers and the altright in their bubble. so sad to see the dumbasses leave threads so soon already. there needs to be a default platform for morons to share memes so the real world does not get polluted.
Main use of WhatsApp is SMS replacement. Has nothing to do with threads or anything like that. It is a free equivalent of messaging which is very convenient when you need to send messages abroad. What do you use for this? e-mail? Telegram? Serious question.
I’m not the person you replied to, but I use Matrix for this, and it works very well for my purposes.
Signal for me personally. I’ll never touch WhatsApp. If that’s what you use to communicate then we do it the old fashioned way.
But why? For video calls and simple messages what’s the difference? Both use end to end encryption. The interface is clear but WhatsApp has huge advantage in number of users.
can you really verify they use e2ee? it’s not like you can look at the source code of their client or servers, all you can do is take their word for it and there have been companies lying about having e2ee before.
plus metadata collection, sure they might not able to collect what you send but who and when you send your messages are probably collected.
But these questions are true for any app. The only one which was verified is iMessage, because of that FBI case.
not really, you can check the source code for signal’s client and server. same goes for matrix except you can even host your own matrix server. that is the difference of open source.
Are you compiling and installing compiled version yourself onto your phone?
? People in many countries use this like Americans use SMS/texting. In Japan, we use LINE instead. Korea mainly uses Kakaotalk and some LINE, etc. SMS just isn’t really used in a number of countries by anyone of any age.
I use it the least possible and mostly for professional or career
Huh, I didn’t realize WhatsApp was still around.
It’s pretty much ubiquitous in the UK. Say you don’t use it and you get a very funny look
Yeah, the Meta logo on the commercial was enough to keep me away from this forever.
I have a distrust of just about all things corporate. That’s reason enough for me not to use it.
Despite all of its privacy concerns, one can’t really get rid of it if everyone around is using it as the default communication mode, unless you’re a social outcast. The thing with communication apps is that they aren’t a personal choice.
It is possible without beeing a social outcast. Element, Signal, Telegram and Threema cover most of my contacts. If there really is someone with only Whatsapp, I write a SMS.
In my experience everyone has at least one alternative to Whatsapp.
