this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2025
65 points (100.0% liked)
Technology
40141 readers
314 users here now
A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.
Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Subcommunities on Beehaw:
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The problem is that for a lot of people it has become a substitute that has filled the void left by the slow destruction of other social organizations and institutions. It’d be easy to say that social media sites like Facebook killed them, but I think they were already throughly hollowed out and made inaccessible by the economic pressure on people to be ever more productive workers and ever more economy driving consumers.
To ask people to dispense with whatsapp, instagram or facebook is to ask them to abandon their ability to be part of communities that matter to them. It’s sort of an intractable problem as it requires whole communities to abandon ship together, which is difficult to do. The solution to the problem is to easy that process and decrease barriers to doing so.
This is the core problem of getting rid from these social networks. I stopped using Facebook a long time ago and Whatsapp shortly after Facebook acquired them. As I was the only one in my family and friends circle doing this, I was also the most lonely one. Suddenly I could not be part of the discussions when or what to do next or other fun talks. I was the outside who communicated with one or few over email, just to tell me where to meet next in example. (Also not using Twitter or most other social networks...)
It's an organizational problem off course but this showed me why social media once got foothold in the mass, is hard to abandon individually. For a person like me, its not a big deal. But getting rid of Facebook and Whatsapp at the same time, without everyone switching to an alternative is a big deal for most.
Back in, I want to say, 2006, my fiancee and I lived in an apartment complex with nine units around a courtyard. We'd wheel the grill out, and after a couple of times, neighbours asked if they could throw something on. It was an absurdly large grill for two people (and I'm the sort to buy the the entire summer's charcoal when a spring sale takes two-thirds off the price), so it turned into a thing where almost every night, half of the residents were out in folding chairs, drinking beer and sharing food when it was done.
As a group, the only thing we had in common was our address. My fiancee and I were to the left of the Overton window, while another couple was that classic redneck "I don't like dem gays, but if they ain't hurtin' me, I got no issue" sort. We ended up forming a bowling team that fall.
Seriously. The time when everything didn't have to be about politics was less than 20 years ago. Hmm ... wonder what changed.
And yes. I need to keep WhatsApp for this very purpose.