this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
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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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[–] hellfire103@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, this is so fucking annoying. I've been banging on about Signal for years, but everyone except a small handful of my wisest friends insist upon using WhatsApp and Discord.

Almost everyone I know also uses Instagram, and no other social media. I am yet to meet someone in real life who even has Mastodon.

I have told people about Lemmy for a year now.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Why is it so hard to get friends to leave

I mean the reason is usually summed up with a single word when I make the suggestion: "Why?". People don't know and/or don't care. You try and explain it and they mock you and act like you're a paranoid conspiracy theorist.

what apps do you feel most trapped in?

Geeze, you name it. Right now I need a new job, and if you're not looking on Indeed, you're severely limiting your options. You can't see anything on Indeed without creating an account and turning over ALL of your personal details, much less actually submit an application. Not to mention the site itself is just horrendous to use. If we had some sort of technological standard protocol for submitting resumes ( so you could send them the same way you send contact info via .vcf), or even OCR that actually worked, it could be a lot easier, but we don't, so the alternative is going and typing in all of your information for every individual application, which simply doesn't work when you're submitting a couple dozen every day, on top of their meaningless personality quizzes and chatting endlessly with AI bots, and aptitude tests and video response interviews and and and...

I make a good % of my money for my business using FB and IG. Not through ads but just through networking. Although I'm about to close my doors (due to unrelated market circumstances), at which point I'll delete them. But then I will mostly lose access to all of the events that are shared exclusively on these platforms. I ask them to share them elsewhere but it's more of the same, mocking and asking why.

When it comes to open source, Discord and Reddit seem to be the platforms of choice. Usually this means I simply ignore otherwise-promising projects.

Fortunately almost no one has ever asked me to use WhatsApp. Usually only international travelers. I usually just decline and/or ask them to use Signal.

[–] mp3@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Network effect and the path of least resistance.

People usually resist change until there's a net and obvious gain, or when thing don't work as expected anymore.

And you need to consider that what's important in a messaging platform for someone, might be vastly different for another.

[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The inconvenience of switching and learning a new thing is the largest deterrent. People complain but don't care enough due to those reasons to switch.

I only text people on Signal, except the old grandparents or potential new friends that I will in time get to switch to Signal.

The inconvenience of switching and learning a new thing is the largest deterrent.

Honestly, oftentimes it's not evem that, it's the perception of learning being difficult.

I have some friends decided to pay hundreds of dollars to hire a plumber for something pretty simple to fix. As in, it'd take $50 and an hour once you factor in learning and practice runs. And they're always complaining about not having money, yet they got mad when I told them how easy it was

These are just opinions, but here are the two I know about (I don't use WhatsApp)

Discord: It's not just you. You would have to get their other connections, all their servers, and all the connections from those servers to switch. Frankly speaking, Revolt isn't ready for that to happen. You are one person. I'm sorry, but if I have 1 friend vs. all of my servers and friends, I'm not going to make a meaningful change for the one person. And tbh I'm more likely to be the one than the many. What I would suggest is to try and put yourself between the two services, help to build the communities you want to see, then invite people over.

Instagram: Same issue as Discord. The fediverse doesn't have the variety of content, the wide range of users, or half the stuff to engage with.

[–] HailSeitan@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

Cory Doctorow refers to this as the Anatevka problem.

[–] scytale@piefed.zip 6 points 1 day ago

Because everyone else they know is there. If the people they follow and interact with moved to Mastodon or switched messengers to Signal, you’ll see how quickly they will move. It’s hard to convince someone to sign up or install a new app if it’s only you they’ll find there. I was able to switch my family over to Signal and they literally use it only for family group chats, because they don’t know anyone else who uses it. And they were a little easier to convince because they’re family. I won’t be able to convince people with less close ties to me like friends, acquaintances, and neighbors.

[–] Triasha@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I had my wife and best friend using signal until they dropped support for sms. Switching between apps was too much for us.

[–] Zak@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Switching between apps was too much for us.

I've heard this from a few people, but I have trouble understanding it. Perhaps its because I've never had the experience of being able to send text messages to all of my contacts in one place, but the effort required seems pretty insignificant to me.

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

different people act differently but that move by signal deff had a cooling effect on signal adoption. as if on purpose.

[–] lukecooperatus@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It was definitely on purpose, because privacy is more important to Signal than line-go-up adoption number statistics.

SMS is dangerous and insecure and everyone should stop using it immediately.

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[–] Triasha@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Different strokes.

[–] bradboimler@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I can't control my contacts. I can control what I do. I was personally getting annoyed enough with Discord that I uninstalled the thing and stopped visiting it on the web. My account still exists AFAIK. I didn't make a big production of it nor tell anyone; I simply left.

It was a bit of a sacrifice because I don't connect with an extremely rewarding community on there as much anymore. Thankfully they still host IRL meetups and I do go to those.

I'm opinionated about messaging apps but I don't try to convince anyone. Well, other than siblings and SOs. People who want to talk to me can find me on the apps I do hang out in. If they ask why I'm not on the big ones I will gladly tell them. But where they end up is their decision, not mine.

[–] Scolding7300@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago
[–] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago (8 children)

Chasing the hot new app that was created by some one-person dev team for "privacy" reasons is a little like chasing amy. You are looking for an ideal app that doesn't exist, so you can't really suggest a better alternative. Instead you are just nagging people for using discord or imessage even though those apps are perfectly fine for 99% of people. Even privacy focused people. imessaage specifically is great for privacy and unless you have strong evidence of an apple installed backdoor for the p2p imessage encryption I'd question why your are against it.

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[–] a4ng3l@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Yeah well imagine what it is when you are old yourself… having a majority of like aged friends and even older family… no one is ever leaving FB before they are ded :-/

[–] Una@europe.pub 2 points 1 day ago

Honestly, when or if eu chat control happens I'll just delete all of those applications and never tell anyone, I am not gonna use sms either

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago

People are lazy

[–] Nighed@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

Partially, it's because the incumbent platforms are just much better.... Discord is really good.

I have got some people to move to signal though. I don't touch Facebook messenger.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago

Honestly, I've just made new friends. If I had to drop friends and family because they refused to move over, that's fine. I can just make some new friends.

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