Actually these type of situation show who are your friends. Your friends will call you, text you and arrange meets. And There’s FaceTime if your far from friend. Stop relying on Facebook to connect you…

Excuse me, but what? My friends text and call me through WhatsApp or Facebook. If anything, me ditching those two services would justify them not reaching out, because it implies I’m the difficult one. Me making it difficult to be reached does not mean they’re not my friends.

EDIT:

> And There’s FaceTime if your far from friend. Stop relying on Facebook to connect you…

I'm not even sure to describe how ignorant this comment is. Even if I stop relying on Facebook to connect me. Now I'm relying to Apple to connect me? Am I supposed to tell me friends that because I don't use Facebook, they should all buy an iPhone to connect with me?

>Me making it difficult to be reached does not mean they’re not my friends.

Is phone and SMS considered 'difficult' now? Everyone I know simply uses SMS and phone calls.

I suppose if you have globally distributed friends groups, this could be difficult, otherwise I don't see why. You give up a few features and it's not the most secure but it's a viable alternative almost everyone has access to.

Well, I live abroad, my family and friends have various group chats on WhatsApp and Messenger. I can’t blame them for not wanting to include me, since it would cost them quite a bit of money to text or call me.

Plus, phone calls are quite different from general text messages. Messages allows anyone to reply on a time they’re free for it.

So in general, yes, SMS is considered difficult, in my situation.

The main thing that WhatsApp and Messenger gave me was the ability to stay in touch with anyone I knew, wherever they lived. SMS just doesn’t cut it; huge fees and no groups. There’s really no alternative.

Doesn't email and mailing groups not exist any more ?.

It is kind of funny as every Andriod or iOS phone user effectively gets an email account as part of their access to the platform so it not like this generation doesn't have email.

Also everyone uses email for app registrations, bank accounts and for some formal communication so it not like they don't know how to use either.

It seems we have forgotten that we did live abroad and kept in touch via tools with no vendor lock twenty years ago, telecom (SMS/phone) was lot more expensive then as well.

Ultimately use what you like if you find WhatsApp more useful sure, however forcing a vendor locked in platform on to others I find is incredibly rude.

I am not forcing you to lock into a vendor when I call/SMS/email you.

Email does exist, but it just doesn’t feel the same. I don’t feel like I’m having a real time conversation when using email. Email is not instantaneous, so making plans can take a couple of hours, compared to a couple of minutes.

I haven’t forgotten the days of SMS/email, it’s just that instant messaging made things a lot easier.

They’re not difficult, but they are far less convenient.

If you want large groups/numbers of people to do something, you have to make it as easy and frictionless as possible for them.

I just don’t understand those arguments. It’s like agreeing to carpool with a group of friends, then suddenly you decide to move to another town. They’re not bad friends for not wanting to pick you up, it’s just not convenient anymore.

make a list

fill it in with alternate contacts

start using those contacts to reach out

wait until they switch too

???

profit!

You’re seriously twisting things to somehow make a point. I don’t understand why you have to respond with such a demeaning comment in the first place.

Over the last 5-10 years I’ve established quite a few chatrooms with multiple friends. Me somehow now demanding they switch over and respect my privacy is ridiculous.

And yes, I already use Signal and Telegram with people who use it. I just don’t go around demanding every single person I know switches over, just because I say so.

Hey, stop shitting on my friends.

You can continue to use Facebook with the mobile website…the point of the parent comment was to just not use the app itself.

How does that work for WhatsApp (a Facebook app now)?

It doesn’t. WhatsApp is an app on your phone. That’s it. It can’t be anything else anywhere else, it’s how it’s been designed.

That’s exactly my point, I can’t justify deleting it.

Some people shift to Telegram / Signal if they can get their friends to install them.

I did this. Shifted the whole family to Telegram, and am hoping Signal catches up so we can switch to that.

I do have a few members of the family on Signal already though. They're just the ones that don't mind giving up stickers and the nice interface

Signal has had stickers for over a year now. https://signal.org/blog/make-privacy-stick/

About the time they added stickers, and message replies my friends group chats switched over.

The feature exists but the overall quality and variety just aren't the same. For whatever reason, people get comfortable with the familiar and even a cosmetic change creates a barrier.

I have no doubt signal will catch up though.

They make no where near as much money on you from WhatsApp as they do from Facebook.

Use the web app version with Firefox (for Facebook proper, not WhatsApp)