278
Why is it so hard to get friends to leave Discord, WhatsApp, Instagram, and others? Anyone else feel this? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
171 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!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 6 points 1 year ago (6 children)

As someone whose only apple devices are ipads, the big lockin isn't imessage vs an SMS client. It's FaceTime vs, Zoom/GMeet/Jitsi. Mind you, it is nice being able to use iMessage with my wife when I have internet, and then swap over to SMS quickly. Sure, my two devices don't have a persistent conversation, but her device does.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (5 children)

    FaceTime vs, Zoom/GMeet/Jitsi

    Is the advantage availability among your contacts, or something about the UX?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Holistically it's UX.

    If my wife or others in my life who use Apple want to contact me, they don't have to go into a specific app and hope that I'm looking at it. They can go into iMessage, click the camera, and poof, a video call starts up. The only software I use that does that otherwise is Discord, and that's not integrated with SMS/MMS. It's the connection too (which is just as much part of UX) - I've had problems with Zoom or others due to connection strength, but not with FaceTime.

    The fact that it's a "just-works" solution is important.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    they don’t have to go into a specific app and hope that I’m looking at it

    Do the others not ring your phone? I don't video call often, but when I do it's usually with Signal, and that definitely rings my phone.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Literally all of that UX is the same and better in other apps though.

    For example, every single part of your description applies to video and text conversations with my SO and friends, except we all use Signal. It "just works", and better than Facetime because it doesn't matter what device my SO and friends have.

    With Facetime it doesn't "just work" at all with the large number of people I know who don't have Apple. That's a huge disadvantage which means that Facetime UX sucks.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent