Why I'm deleting WhatsApp
On my path to simplicity, I remove anything unnecessary and noisy.
Years ago, I removed Facebook.
Later, Instagram followed.
It seems to me that Meta, after creating something apparently useful, is just ruining their user’s experience and creating serious problems for them. The real value they create is only for their investors and advertisers.
So there was just one more to go to get rid of Meta completely.
The only reason I kept using WhatsApp is the same as everyone: convenience.
Not that sending SMS or making a phone call is difficult, but that’s where we’re at.
We can’t keep making choices (or not making them) out of convenience.
Easy choices is what your brain defaults to in order to save energy.
But convenience is often not the best option in the long term.
Just like eating out is easy and great for working longer hours, but not so good for your health if you do it too often.
Yes, cooking is time consuming and not so fun for many of us – at least until we get used to it and learn to cook many tasty dishes with efficiency – but in 10 years you’ll be happy your past self chose the hard path.
I might have kept using WhatsApp if they weren’t forcing features I don’t want in my messaging space. And there’s probably more annoyance to come (like more ads).
I don’t want IA in there. Not because I’m afraid of it, but because I like one app for one purpose.
Using WhatsApp is like eating at a table that is also a TV.
Fuck that.
I open my messaging app to read or send messages.
Not to ask AI.
Not to get distracted with channels.
Also, the way Meta AI talked to me was irritating, and how it kept asking stupid questions at the end of all its answers just to try to keep me engaging with it (I like how Claude isn’t doing that).
I got aggressive with it many times just because of that.
I want a world where one business is solving one problem and focuses on serving their customers the best way possible by just taking care of that problem1. That’s it.
Instead, companies like Meta focus on making the greatest amount of money, by buying other companies and exploiting their users as much as possible.
AI glasses aren’t solving a problem, they’re creating a demand for something that is exciting – like anything new – and that will create new problems that are worse than the current problems.
Isn’t it obvious? Smartphones did bad overall, honestly. Not that they shouldn’t exist, but the infinity of the Internet and all the addicting apps shouldn’t be on it. I don’t think that the good that smartphones brought balances the bad. AI glasses are augmented smartphones. Just wait and see the augmented consequences.
Back to AI and the WhatsApp rant. I hate how it’s layered AT THE TOP of the original purpose of the app. I hate that it’s not possible to remove it, or install a previous version without it.
Meta's main goal – as a WhatsApp user – is to make you use Meta AI.
Ok I’m done with the rant.
Beside SMS and phone calls, my alternatives to WhatsApp are Apple’s Messages and Signal.
I love how Signal is just providing the basics and nothing more.
They added Stories – which can be cool – and we can switch off that feature if we don't want to see it.
I do use Telegram on Mac, but like WhatsApp, there’s distraction on it (my stupid addiction since I’m a teen is to follow Juventus Football Club, and there are groups for that on Telegram).
I’m (not) sorry to make myself a little bit harder to reach.
That’s actually a good thing.
I can’t keep using a tool I don’t like, that instead of just being useful is also a distraction and makes me angry, contributing to the success of a company I don’t want to support because they have their own greedy interests and not the best interests of their users.
Remember: you don’t need them, they need you.
Meta’s mission is to make more money, and help their clients (advertisers) and investors making more money.
You as an individual, are the product.
They don't give a shit about you and your friends.
Every choice you make has consequences – not just for you.
Every choice you make builds the future of our world.
What world are you building?
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About market competition and having multiple companies solving the same problem: either they do it differently and there’s enough market for each company to do well, or the best one wins and the other chooses another problem to solve and be the best at it.↩