I find the bigger issue is critical mass: “why would I use an app that nobody else uses?” (when they say “nobody else” in this context they actually mean “not literally everyone else” 😅🙄)
I think it’s akin to the sentiment that we see on here sometimes where people wish that Lemmy had bigger communities.
We’ve been conditioned to think more views/subscribers/upvotes is always a positive thing and you should always be aiming for more.
In reality (and imo), communities that have less members more successfully function as actual communities. Toxic conversations are a lot less likely to break out among people who’ve had a bunch of other conversations before and users who exhibit toxic behavior are socially shunned and shamed if not banned. (I’m massively generalizing here, but I don’t want to write a book).
The way I’ve managed with my group is to just not have the other accounts and tell them that if they want to message me then they can install Signal. It’s a bit of a filter as well; If they’re not willing to do something as simple as install an app to talk to you, then they were not likely very good friends to begin with (imo).
Your desire to have a right to privacy and not participate in a system which weaponizes social media to generate political outcomes favorable to the billionaire owners of those services (ex:, as the stories today show, disallowing saying the word Epstein or Zionist on TikTok).
I know that isn’t an easy decision and generally I value my relationships more than fighting The Man. I’ve just been lucky enough that my social circle are all other tech people who have been privacy-aware since the beginning. I do keep an iPad to talk to family, but it is not associated with any other account that I use.
I find the bigger issue is critical mass: “why would I use an app that nobody else uses?” (when they say “nobody else” in this context they actually mean “not literally everyone else” 😅🙄)
I think it’s akin to the sentiment that we see on here sometimes where people wish that Lemmy had bigger communities.
We’ve been conditioned to think more views/subscribers/upvotes is always a positive thing and you should always be aiming for more.
In reality (and imo), communities that have less members more successfully function as actual communities. Toxic conversations are a lot less likely to break out among people who’ve had a bunch of other conversations before and users who exhibit toxic behavior are socially shunned and shamed if not banned. (I’m massively generalizing here, but I don’t want to write a book).
The way I’ve managed with my group is to just not have the other accounts and tell them that if they want to message me then they can install Signal. It’s a bit of a filter as well; If they’re not willing to do something as simple as install an app to talk to you, then they were not likely very good friends to begin with (imo).
This argument is very susceptible to Uno reverso 😅
Sure, and there you just have to weigh:
I know that isn’t an easy decision and generally I value my relationships more than fighting The Man. I’ve just been lucky enough that my social circle are all other tech people who have been privacy-aware since the beginning. I do keep an iPad to talk to family, but it is not associated with any other account that I use.