this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025

289 points (99.0% liked)

Privacy

42334 readers

551 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
Be nice :)

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

289

Why is it so hard to get friends to leave Discord, WhatsApp, Instagram, and others? Anyone else feel this? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 weeks ago by autonomoususer@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

188 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I’ve been seeing this more and more in comments, and it’s got me wondering just how big this issue really is. A lot of people feel trapped in apps like Discord, WhatsApp, and Instagram, but can’t get their friends to leave.

It’s really annoying when you suggest trying something new, whether it’s a different app or just not using these platforms so much but sometimes it can feel like no one wants to go first.

So I’m curious, what apps do you feel most trapped in? And have you tried convincing your friends to leave them? What happened? Is it an issue for you, or are you just going along with the flow?

Looking forward to hearing if this is as common as it feels!

(page 3) 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] bradboimler@lemmy.world 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

I can't control my contacts. I can control what I do. I was personally getting annoyed enough with Discord that I uninstalled the thing and stopped visiting it on the web. My account still exists AFAIK. I didn't make a big production of it nor tell anyone; I simply left.

It was a bit of a sacrifice because I don't connect with an extremely rewarding community on there as much anymore. Thankfully they still host IRL meetups and I do go to those.

I'm opinionated about messaging apps but I don't try to convince anyone. Well, other than siblings and SOs. People who want to talk to me can find me on the apps I do hang out in. If they ask why I'm not on the big ones I will gladly tell them. But where they end up is their decision, not mine.

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 weeks ago

People are lazy

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 weeks ago

Tech illiteracy is the biggest reason.

These days people dont hardly know what IRC or a router is/does, theyre not going to change to any other application unless its DEAD easy.

Also I despise discord UI and always have. I must just be old, but its sucks and is horribly designed. Now it has built in ads so it really pisses me off. At least most of my friends moved on from Snapchat (literal Spyware).

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 weeks ago

Honestly, I've just made new friends. If I had to drop friends and family because they refused to move over, that's fine. I can just make some new friends.

[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 1 points 4 weeks ago

It's hard to get people to care about things. I've gotten a couple people to switch to signal (which I hope is good), but I have one holdout who keeps saying "ill switch later". I don't understand why "take 3 minutes to install signal" can't be done right now, but I'm not a mess of depression, anxiety, and debt, so I've just been giving them gentle reminders every so often.

[–] libre_warrior@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I think the way we are trying to make technology sound sophisticated and our refusal to reinvent language makes technology become much less accessible than what they should be.

[–] autonomoususer@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Like this, I think letting irrelevant tech talk hijack the conversation makes privacy inaccessible. We need to call it what it is: a scam, abuse, and hijacking of our control.

https://lemmy.world/comment/19262111

[–] Nighed@feddit.uk 1 points 4 weeks ago

Partially, it's because the incumbent platforms are just much better.... Discord is really good.

I have got some people to move to signal though. I don't touch Facebook messenger.

[–] vivalapivo@lemmy.today 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Find new friends in Russia. These are banned there

load more comments (1 replies)

load more comments