Chicken and the egg. If you're sufficiently close to people to convince them to use SMS/Signal/Matrix/whatever with you, then sure, you'll be fine. But what if you're not? What if it's either "install WhatsApp and join our group chat" or nothing?
I don't. Everybody got a phone number, sms and email. So if we don't share a tool, I fall back to that, to face to face, accept a delay or be left out of the loop.
The secret is to focus on quality, not quantity, and realize a lot of FOMO is involved.
If the quantity is zero, the quality doesn't matter - if the alternative to joining the group is to be left out of the loop, there is practically no choice.
For example, if they write - in the group - that the next meeting is 3 PM next Wednesday at so-and-so, unless you happen to run into them at that specific time your chances of knowing this are slim.
If we choose things mainly because "all my friends are on it", then no.
I don't have a fb account. I don't have whatsapp. Never had.
Yet I have a very rich social life and maintain relationship with people far away.
The tools we use are a choice.
The price we pay is different depending on that choice.