I just don’t see it happening. Shit I have a hard time getting them to use god damn Whatsapp or Telegram (still bad but at least better than Instagram).
They are all iPhone users in the US so as you may expect they are too damn lazy to install another messaging app despite having Instagram Snapchat Tiktok BeReal and whatever shitty social media app that exists on the App Store.
For the love of god don’t just say “you need bettee friends” 😂 cause let’s be honest finding a privacy conscious person that you also can get along with in the US as Gen Z is practically impossible.
I just told everyone “I am only using Signal from now on. If you want to message me do it through that.” Worked for those who actually want to keep in touch.
That’s kind of what it came down to for me too. Hey signal is good and its free. I don’t have Snapchat, fb, tiktok, WhatsApp or telegram. Its signal or SMS.
Also if you can get a group together for a purpose like playing call of duty together that can help with adoption.
This is the approach I took as well, and it thankfully worked for me.
Set up matrix instance and invite them. Better to use something you control over signal which is run by a company on their servers. Saves you the trouble of having to do this all again down the line if something happens with signal. Also there are many chat bridges for stuff like signal, IG, WhatsApp, etc. Theres even an Imessage one but it is not in the ansible playbook yet.
https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy makes it very simple to deploy.
I deleted Facebook and Instagram and joined Signal. Not everybody transitioned (instead they wanted me to join WhatsUp lol), but it was a good decision in the long run.
Of course not everybody will transition as well, but let me tell you those who did (in my case) are those who want to be really in contact with you. For the rest I use SMS and E-mail like in the old days haha. You just have to hope that eventually they will join.
It’s really hard decision that you have to think about (it took me some time) but I just say “F*** that” and just did it. Until I remove my Fb and Ig they think that I wasn’t going to do it but well ^^.
Don’t have an answer but sharing in your pain as a millennial. 😭
Millennial here. Lucky enough that about 1/3rd of our friend group (and four family members) are somewhat privacy focused and moved to Signal. But getting the rest of everyone to move to better E2E messaging is rough.
Yk it is a sad world we live in when they already have 5 social media/messaging apps on their phone but refuse to download another one
Ikr! It’s confusing
I can hear the, “But I already have Facebook!” echoing in the halls.
Speaking as someone a bit older, I’ve got an ICQ account, an AIM account, an Apple ID, a Google ID, a few handles on IRC, as well as a Signal account and a Lemmy ID. Never signed up for Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, Tiktok, etc. because I actually read their license agreements and privacy policies and in some cases had actual human interactions with some of the owners.
Having said all that, just do you. If you drift away from some of your friends because they’re unwilling to interact with you away from their established online media platform, that’s not the end of the world; it just frees you up for more worthwhile relationships and activities.
I’m 35 now, and I was told recently that not having a Facebook account is a red flag for dating now.
Oh fuckin well, nobody was kicking my door down before I left the site either haha.
“Red flag for dating”… They can ask questions and talk… I heard this line for employment
Even like almost a decade ago, having a Facebook account was the red flag for me.
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For real, just my closest friends have gotten signal, and techies, and privacy focused family. Slow up hill battle tbh.
My next trick is more family on the wagon, by convincing them to do more video calls through signal. They want to use Duo, but we are getting closer to more family with Signal than Duo.
Something that also helps, shame them for watching ads, there is no reason you have to watch ads unless you are using the shitty apps that force it on you. You separate them from ads though and you get less push back on new apps. Them ads really do be working on people.
As a gen z I find this to be basically impossible unless the platform is already in flux. I’m sure Instagram will do something people hate soon enough so just be ready when it goes down.
I know not everyone is willing to do this, but I just made myself unreachable elsewhere and many started using signal for that reason.
Good thing you happened to be popular then. It’s akin to self-ostracizing for most, especially young people.
What other option is there? If you can’t convince them yourself, it’s not like the internet has some magic bullet for making them switch to another app.
The only choice most people have is between being an outcast, and sucking it up and using whatever everyone else is using. Some people are natural trend-setters, most are followers and there are those who want to do things for good reasons rather than copying everyone else. That last group of people have an uphill battle because their lifestyle requires thought and deliberation, which is something most people aren’t willing to do, sadly.
I hope one day, that we have a viable protocol like email that will free everybody from vendor lock-in into messaging apps. Allowing us to chose our platform freely.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Matrix is there yet
I bridge WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and Slack using Matrix.
Works extremely well for me.
Matrix is one area I’ve wanted to get into, but haven’t managed to yet. How does bridging work?
Effectively it’s a plugin to the Matrix server instance that acts like a client to the remote network. You can then interact with users on the remote networks like they’re local to yours.
Sort of like interacting with users on Kbin or Mastodon on, say, lemmy.world.
It allows me to have, for example, a chat group with people on disparate networks. i.e. a “room” with users from Signal, WhatsApp and Slack having a discussion and everyone just chats without having to worry about who is where or using whichever network.
Say what now? Signal, Whatsapp, and Slack all talking together without a problem?
Yep. There’s a whole lot of protocols/networks that you can bridge. They’re just the ones I use.
Here’s a list: https://matrix.org/ecosystem/bridges/
Oh wow. I didn’t realize it had this capability. I need to dive into this now…
I have used Matrix with nontech family for years without much issue. Text, voice, video, addons such as todolists. Works well for me.
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The problem is they will keep talking, but they will just use SMS which is absolute dogshit for sending pictures and stuff
Ignore them
You may want to give this a quick read before using signal
https://dessalines.github.io/essays/why_not_signal.html
I personally haven’t verified the claims on there but I’ve been using a personal instance of Matrix for a while now and it’s been working great.
This is straight up misinformation about Signal. The internet was made in part by the US government, so was Tor. You don’t avoid using those, and it’s very public knowledge that they were created with help from the feds.
You could use matrix and use bridges. Then they can migrate whenever they want.
Pay them or buy them a beer.
While we are at it, how do I get my fellow older millennials to use it?
I also tried to make my friends use signal or anything that respects privacy, but it was almost impossible. They were used to their platform which is instagram or discord, and they didnt want to move since they had no reason except privacy, which is not their major problem.
