holy crap. i went in with an open mind and it just got worse and worse as I kept reading.

i hope whatever AI firm commissioned this propaganda at least paid well.

weirdly my first thought just now was “wouldn’t it be cool if we could federate this somehow”. have a single (or a handful) of secure communication protocol(s) so that users could just choose the app with the UI they liked best and be done with it.

…then I realized I just essentially invented matrix and that already exists. lol. but yeah the issue is getting everyone to the same place.

its impossible to get some people to move from a platform they’ve used for over a decade in most cases.

nope I fully understand it. completely. and when they removed it, they removed my need for their app. as suddenly I went from being able to message everyone, to being able to message just 2 people.

it no longer fits my needs. so it isn’t used by me or by both of the people that were leftover after the sms turn off. as they had the same reaction I did.

so that’s that, I suppose.

it does make sense, actually. as they had that function when the app was first around. why do you think they have you sign up with a phone number in the first place?

also, it’s not on me to solve every technical hurdle you make up. if you want to learn more about Spam Prevention methods, I can point you to some resources if you’re truly interested.

I’m sorry that not everyone thinks Signal is a god app worthy of worship. its a message app, and its not the only one. it does stuff some people don’t like. including me.

no we are all on different platforms. half are on android and half are on apple which is irritating. so sadly the sms is our best tool to hit everyone at the same time with any urgency.

we used to be fine with candles and stinky lanterns filled with perfectly good kerosene too. who tf needs electricity? 🤨

on the topic of family connection, I can’t speak to your family experience. only my own. and our family group chat is pretty damn active.

Spam prevention? Ive got spam on Signal. Having your phone number be the barrier of entry doesn’t make Signal a flawless app.

and considering i can just plug a google voice number in, I’m not sure its the best barrier.

Signal is not capable of SMS and quite a lot of people still use it.

yes, i know SMS isn’t secure at all. but if the option is “keep in touch with close family” or “don’t keep in touch” they will probably choose the former if they want to keep that.

using the phone number is still a pretty unnecessary risk, imho.

there’s no real need for it any longer.

oh I disabled my “smart” TV’s ability to connect to the internet. its a dumb TV now.

it made the mistake of showing me a banner ad while I was gaming. so I promptly cut its balls off in retaliation.

exactly. so I’m wondering what the purpose is for its need.

(edit: apologies- the phone number. needing the phone number.)

if they need my phone number to have an account anyway, they can offer both.

i dont need more apps that do the same thing. i need less.

ironically, replacing shitty clickbait journalists is something AI can and will likely do in the near future.

signal requires a phone number and won’t even allow you to send sms to those that aren’t on signal.

its better, but still not great.

oooooh that is very interesting. thank you for that.

addiction isnt something to pay 440 for. addiction is something to work on yourself or with someone who specializes in mental health.

i have experienced addiction. smart phone addiction is a mild one and its completely breakable by changing one’s own habits.

people are capable of it. they’re just lazy. shelling out 440 bucks for a gimmick that makes them feel like they’re helping themselves doesn’t seem like a healthy thing to do for one’s addiction.

440 dollars for a bad smartphone and the homepage of this site is some guy sitting in a yoga pose to make the company seem more 🙏zen🙏.

people need to start exercising personal discipline rather than spending 440 bucks for a device with less features when you could just uninstall the crap you’re tired of

you can “dumb” down a smart phone literally at will. at any time. or just put the thing down more often.

that won’t cost you 440 dollars so some random guy can buy expensive yoga mats to pose on, and you’ll be better off for teaching yourself better smartphone use habits.

honestly the target audience is young 20 somethings. older folks like me grew up having to use different methods to keep stuff together. address book/cassette player/CD player/date book.

but then the smart phone happened and suddenly even mp3 players were obsolete. so us older folks embraced the functionality of a device we once needed an entire bags worth of stuff to replicate from our youth. I’ve never looked back from the smartphone because I remember actually carrying all that stuff.

these younger people were born when tech was getting to that point. and their formative years were spent with smart devices. so their brains seem wired to want to break “free” from it.

or at least thats just my theory. the ‘iPad kid’ generation is starting to be adults and they’ve not had the distance between smart devices that the older generations have.

again, just my take on it.

i use Waterfox. its great. its a fork of firefox that still respects privacy.

absolutely. you can also go back to sending hand written mail instead of using email or messaging apps too, but this is 2025 and software exists to help keep track of this.

also apps exist that store local data only.