[duke_core]

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)

[helmholtz]

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.

[1propionyl]

Let's turn this around: why are you commenting?

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.

[helmholtz]

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.

[1propionyl]

> What works instead is voting with feet/dollars.

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.

[jonp888]

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.

[helmholtz]

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!