I hate WhatsApp. Or rather, I hate how much of a grip on the market WhatsApp has.

Basically everybody uses WhatsApp over here; it’s a given that you’d have WhatsApp if your age is below 55 or something. 55-year-olds are also expected to have WhatsApp, actually, if they have a smartphone… Which would be expected of a 55-year-old. I don’t know what the cut-off age is, but it’s high!

There’s Signal, for example, which has equivalent functionality, but people just don’t use it. The point of communication is to communicate, there’s no point in being alone on Signal while everyone else is on WhatsApp.

I suppose that what’s keeping the crown on WhatsApp’s head is the fact it’s closed-source. If there was a way to write an app like Signal that also interopped with WhatsApp I’d switch in an instant. Now, because of the Digital Markets Act, this should happen eventually… But it seemingly isn’t happening.

I’m trying to wean myself off of Google, too. It’s really hard though. Google has really entrenched itself into my life in a way that I simply hadn’t realized. Before I knew it, I look around and everything’s Google: my entertainment, my communication… I’m using a Tuta account now, for sign-ups and the like. I’ve also ditched Google Drive and associated services. But it’s simply impossible, right now, to get rid of everything.

Slowly, though, I’m moving further and further away from these gigacorps.