Everything happens in WhatsApp here. Just moved to a new building and they added me to a whatsapp group for announcements / requests etc. Also, movers, utility people etc would call and ask for a “location”. Not an address. A “location”, meaning sharing a location via whatsapp. Noone even mentions the name whatsapp. It is implied.
If you have children, most schools have whatsapp groups for parents and teachers to get in contact.
I mean I can find much more. Not having WhatsApp is not an option here. It is almost like not having a cell phone.
I live in the subcontinent and 100% agree with you, I don't know most westerners are able to comprehend how much Whatsapp is tied into our day to day lives. It also plays a huge huge hand in spreading fake news here through message forwards, most politicians here pay off journalists who maintain several large group chats where they spread misinformation (exponentially)
An important thing to ask yourself is "Why are you commenting?" This isn't a dig but a real question. I don't mean to belittle you or the GP. Is it just idle ranting or are you hoping to find a solution?
If the former, my complete sympathies. Carrying around this low-level resentment about an app all while having to use it isn't great.
But if it's the latter, then the solution is obvious. Delete the app and then let the chips fall where they may. I guarantee there is a grumpy 60 year old in your life who just never ditched his Nokia and "it works for him". It's clear that you can't have it both ways.
I make this comment because too often on the internet people will comment on a self-help article, or someone sharing their success story, or a piece of advice with "Yeah, but it doesn't work for me because..."
Well, great? Sorry to hear that? This topic, then, is not for you? Carry on and good luck? It's just too many people expect universal solutions that MUST work EVERYWHERE without exceptions.
Your message seems to boil down to asking people to "get on board or get left behind", and that otherwise they just should delete the app, shut up, and stop complaining.
That may be possible for you, but it isn't for every person, even if they wished it was. "Just don't use it" isn't enough, and I say this as someone who hasn't had Facebook or WhatsApp in over 5 years. That I can go without them is a luxury many don't have.
Lastly, people being outspoken about technology not working for them has led to countless improvements and innovations, often with benefits to the entire population (<curb-cuts-cliche/>). Telling people not to express their criticism and complaints helps nobody.
I thought I was making a wider point about the sort of comment where people dive headfirst into a comment thread with complaints about how the solution doesn't work for them because of XYZ, when the author may never have inteded their solution to be universal in the first place.
I have serious doubts that idle complaining on the internet moves the needle too much. What works instead is voting with feet/dollars. In this instance, it's the mass of people who actually HAVE jumped ship that are causing whatsapp to pause, not the ones saying they can't quit, however justified their reasoning.
So I both agree and disagree. On one hand, yes, one person voting with feet/dollars has a relatively large impact compared to one person raising a complaint. But if we look at the entire ecology of users, the story is different.
Many of the people who end up voting with their feet do so after being exposed to people raising complaints. And on the flip side, people who see their friends voting with their feet may then seek out the explanations and complaints leading to that action.
Just uninstalling an app is very low information density as a signal. It doesn't provide any reason why, it's just a single bit. It's value is more as an action rather than a statement.
I think the ideal is somewhere in between, and we need both concrete action (voting with your feet) as well as public discourse (raising complaints). The former without the latter is inscrutable, the latter without the former is toothless.
It's clear from previous discussions on this topic that a lot of people on HN do genuinely believe that it is possible for anyone to stop using WhatsApp without suffering any social disadvantages whatsoever.
Maybe you are a person that isn't bothered in the slightest when other people have built their opinions based on a faulty understanding of the situation. I wish I was, it must be very peaceful.
Yes, very peaceful. By the same token, it must be deeply burdensome having your own equanimity displaced because "other people have built their opinions based on a faulty understanding of the situation". Quelle horreur!
Previously the only way I've had of keeping in touch with family back home was Facebook, in addition, most of my university life (late 00s/early 10s) was done through Facebook. I got rid of Facebook for a couple years, and nothing fell apart. People were still able to stay in touch with me (through WhatsApp, email and text messages), and maybe I didn't go to as many parties as before, but I still went to more than enough.
Later on, I signed up to Facebook again (for all the wrong reasons), and not much changed in that communication was mostly off Facebook because that's what my acquaintances and I had established.
I got rid of Facebook again not long after. Then a few years ago I moved into a new property where, just like you, the first thing they asked me is if I had Facebook so I can be added to building's group. I politely told them I do not, and what do you know, the landlord was still able to keep us up to date with announcements and everything else.
I'm sure my situations isn't the same as yours, and I do believe that you're in a worse situation than I was in that sense. Certainly, I don't disagree that it's hard to leave a service when everyone else is on it.
However, something has to give.
Your utility provider will find a way to tell you that you owe them money. The movers will find a way to talk to you to get his business. When they ask for a location, and you send the address instead anyway, they'll copy and paste it.
Maybe I have an oversimplified view of the world, because quite frankly, here in the UK, there is a lot of convenience and professionalism.
Regardless, I've messed up a lot when it comes to privacy in the past, and I'd rather not continue those same mistakes. I've come to learn to value my privacy, and I encourage everyone around me to value theirs, so I lead by example. I implore you to do the same, because your privacy is important. It'll be hard, but it'll be worth it.
For instance I am part of a volunteer organisation, that amongst other things runs some Covid-19 vaccination centers. At a local level this is organised through a WhatsApp group with about 50 members. For now, I am nothing special in this organisation, no-one with special skills that would be called upon to do particular tasks, just a worker drone.
If I left the WhatsApp group, the only result is that I would never hear about anything that was going on ever again. I would effectively be leaving the organisation too.
Problem solved.