[lordhumphrey]

I strongly encourage anyone who finds Meta's repeated crappy behaviour objectionable to delete their accounts on Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Or, at least, to delete as many as they can get away with, given their personal constraints and obligations, and otherwise minimise as much as possible the interactions with this company.

Personally I do somewhere between one and three strikes with companies. Of course I still must use certain things at certain times, but generally a lot of them can be avoided if you develop the habit of looking for other solutions. It's great fun, actually, once you accept the challenge.

It's only a small action, but it's good on a personal level to practice any kind of resisting.

[Self-Perfection]

And I encourage anyone who cannot delete their WhatsApp due to personal constraints to set WhatsApp profile picture to QR code with the link to their preferred messenger and set name in profile to "W̶h̶a̶t̶s̶A̶p̶p̶ Telegram".

[cedws]

Meta has a monopoly on socialisation, if you delete these apps it does have a detrimental effect on your social network. I refused to use any Meta apps for the longest time but eventually caved on using Instagram and it has given me the ability to connect with people more, even though I hate it.

[Ianjit]

"Meta has a monopoly on socialisation". Step out into the world, there is so much to discover.

[cedws]

I have. I’m 24, I stepped out and realised everyone from my generation is dating on dating apps, arranging meet ups on Instagram, talking about things they saw on TikTok, getting jobs on LinkedIn.

[ok123456]

I don't know about the other things, but no one is getting jobs from LinkedIn.

[alsetmusic]

I got my current job via LinkedIn in 2023.

[Avshalom]

Alright and only one of those things is owned by Zuckerberg.

[cedws]

Ok so it’s not a monopoly, it’s whatever you want to call it, the spirit of the comment was making the point that social media is the new social fabric.

[stetrain]

A lot of the real-world friends I have made coordinate our next real-world activities and share photos of previous activities via Meta products.

[Ianjit]

What I was trying to say is that as individuals we can choose to seek a social life outside of Meta's empire. Perhaps socialisation doesn't exist outside of walled gardens any more, but the universe is full of surprises.

[Chris2048]

As individuals? If your friends and family all use meta products, are you suggesting to get new friends and family, or to convince them all to use other products?

[Ianjit]

Yes, you have that choice. Perhaps you decide that the cost of trying to build a social life outside of the "meta monopoly" is too high. But in life you have choices, there are people out there who also want to construct a social fabric outside of Meta.

[stetrain]

I do have such a social life with real friends in the real world. Cutting out Meta products would reduce how often I see those friends because I would be missing out on communication and planning for those groups.

Ideally they could all switch to a different platform but getting everyone in a group to make that switch is difficult.

My point is that social networks and real-world interaction aren't exclusive. These products facilitate a lot of real-world social interaction as well, and the network effect of most people having an account there makes it hard to move away from.