Thatās the thingā¦I do understand your qualms about having to use them even if it irks you no end because youāre ānow not a weirdoā, and having run establishments prior to these days I find it amusing that youāre now required to indulge in sharing your contact list because itās the ānormā.
Which is awesome because I somehow manage to keep in touch with fellow friends, colleagues, family and even talking to others on platforms such as this without conglomerates poking my metadata too as much.
edit: too > as
Iām still a weirdo, but I canāt afford to be a weirdo performatively these days.
So yeah, I can default to Firefox or keep the MS tools I have to use for work on its own contained browser instance, or refuse to use Samsung or Apple phones or whatever other act of technological petty rebellion that I want. But the point Iām making is that cutting the cord on Whatsapp is not practical for daily use in this region. Itās very different in the US and in some other territories, but here itās definitely not.
Itās far easier to step away from Twitter, Instagram and even Facebook than it is to do the same with Whatsapp here. Thatās the big takeaway that I want to convey here.
And Iām conveying your blind spot which seems to be that you canāt function in this society without WhatsApp, which Iāve done since its inception.
And Iām sure I will perform equally well as yourself and others going into the future without it.
But you and I donāt seem to be in the same society.
This is a heavily regional issue, which is my entire point. There is no iMessage alternative, we arenāt in a WeChat area, or a Telegram area. Here itās overwhelmingly Whatsapp.
This is not the same everywhere. Social media is global, but the mix of it is far from universal.
