Oddbean new post about login | logout In my country WhatsApp is omnipresent. Not using it means that I cannot even contact customer service or buy from the majority of digital stores because they do not use a land line anymore. Yet, I am the 0.00000001% stubborn without it. I try to bring people to Signal where I have 5 contacts at most. It would be hard to move people away from WhatsApp to yet another platform unless it’s utterly appealing.
Mexico is like this... everything runs on WhatsCrapp, even businesses.
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Yeah, WhatsApp isn't great, but I understand why people use it. I just try to convince people who do use it that Signal has the feature set that they're looking for with much better security and they don't have to tie it to their Meta account. It's still better than people using SMS or even Facebook Messenger, though. Unfortunately, a lot of people that I know use both of those no matter how hard I try to get them to join Signal. Anyways, major respect for holding out under that social pressure. 🫡
It’s not difficult though. I just love it. When people ask me for my WhatsApp and I say I don’t have it they get in awe. Some ask how do I survive, others how do I talk to other people, how to I get things done, etc. I say I call. They look at me with a wonder expression for half a second when they remember that phones do call and then change to that of course expression. I just love these interactions lol
I remember getting somewhat of a similar reaction back in the day when I said that I didn't have Facebook. I eventually caved and got Facebook, but I wish I didn't because now I want to get rid of it, but I can't since some family only communicates that way 😂 But yeah, I have noticed that people do seem to get shocked if you don't have whatever the trending social media is. I say that I don't have TikTok and I get some Gen Z'ers looking at me as if I'm insane haha
The contrary happens to me. When I say I don't have facebook they immediately asks what about your "instaaaaaa" which I also do not have. The usual curious expressions follows but many times it is replaced by admiration. Many people I interact with say exactly what you just said, I wish I could be like you, but family.... to what I always reply well, my family knows my number 😂 Exceptions exist. This lady that works on my shooting range needed to contact me for some documentation. When I said I din't have WhatsApp she got angry saying how do you expect to be contacted. I always answer the same: when I need to contact someone, I find my ways. If someone is interested in contacting me, either they will find a way or it is not of my interest, hence, not my problem. That one got very mad.
Well, the thing about the number is that I only give that out to friends and family that I know won't bug me all the time 🤷♂️😂 But also, in a way, I would say that using Messenger is definitely a *little* bit more secure than using SMS, considering the fact that SMS is completely unencrypted, whereas Messenger does encrypt in transit and is now partially end-to-end encrypted. It's not ideal either way, but unlike a criminal tapping a cell tower, Meta can only do so much with my data in a legal way. So yeah, at the end of the day, if I can get a person using Signal instead of Meta's chat apps, that's great, but I will still take WhatsApp or Messenger over SMS.
I have 3 SIM cards. 2 in a dual-chip dumb phone and 1 in my company issued iPhone. I share one of my dumb SIM numbers to stores and people I deal with in the street. The second dumb SIM number I share with online stores or whoever needs to reach me when I am expecting an online purchase. Both have redirects to my real number that only my family knows. In my iPhone I have two do not disturb rules. One 24x7 that only allows incoming calls from family. Another 8x5 that allows incoming calls and notifications from teams and work directory. Everything else is routed from those two numbers (Street and Internet). Rarely I am annoyed by anyone. It’s very neat and not relying on virtual numbers or anything that breaks. It is a setup I’m using for 7 years with great success. And yeah, I ignore all SMS as they are usually always SPAM.