this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
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Privacy

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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!

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[–] Omer_Ash@lemmy.world 135 points 1 day ago (5 children)

It's Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp for me. I ditched the Facebook app a long time ago, but Messenger and Whatsapp remain on my device because no one wants to leave them. I try to keep my chats there as superficial as possible.

Also, this is my first comment ever on Lemmy, so hi everyone!

[–] Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Welcome!

Some tips:

  • You can block other users, other communities, and other instances yourself; you don't have to wait for the mods or admins to do that for you

  • If a mod or an admin of an instance choose to block certain things that you disagree with, you can sign up for another instance with your same name, assuming nobody's taken it; you won't be able to transfer your comments, votes, or posts though; there's been feedback given to the Lemmy devs about this

  • Search by Everything and Active to see new posts show up in your feed daily

  • There's lots of diverse opinions on Lemmy, but they tend to concentrate around politics and tech; maybe consider starting your own community or instance if there's something here you want to see!

  • To use the Discord analogy, Lemmy instances are Discord communities, Lemmy communities are Discord channels, and users are just users; we'll often write c/Whatever to refer to a community, but due to the Federated nature of Lemmy, you may find a community like c/Politics on multiple instances (like lemmy.world or lemmy.ml); not sure if the Lemmy devs have a fix for this

[–] Zombie@feddit.uk 7 points 1 day ago

No one wants to leave because nobody is leaving.

You're still on WhatsApp and Messenger, they can still contact you that way, so why would they bother changing?

Pick a date, a week, a month, whatever, from now. Tell those you message regularly that you will be deleting all Meta apps on that date. Make it clear that that includes WhatsApp and Messenger. Explain why. I just linked some articles instead of having a long explanation but it still made it clear why.

Let them know they can contact you via Signal/SMS/email whatever you use after that date.

If the informed don't take the leap, the ignorant never will.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 51 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Welcome. A reminder for in case you don't know, if it starts to feel stale, then it's probably because of your viewing settings. If you switch it from Active (ironically, the least active), to Hot, 6 hours, Scaled, etc. after you've gone through all of the new to you posts, you'll see a lot more action.

[–] Omer_Ash@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

Thanks for the tip!

[–] Pringles@sopuli.xyz 34 points 1 day ago

All your chat history has been published to the fediverse now. Welcome to Lemmy.

[–] Ste41th@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 day ago

Welcome to lemmy!