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Comment by paulcole | Hacker News Reader

The alternative is to not use Facebook.

I'd even go a step further and say "not to use anything labeled social media or social network".

I think the problem is that it's becoming harder and hard not to use a Facebook related product. Along with the social network, you have the IM app, Instagram, Whatsapp, and potentially VR.

As much as I dislike FB (I uninstalled it from my app and have used the social network in many months), it's much harder for me to convince friends to switch over to another chat program, or to publish my shitty photos on another another platform with an actual audience of friends.

It's easier to convince them if you don't have Facebook to begin with. Then it can't be used as an excuse. Nearly all my close friends and family have Signal.

As for shitty photos... they can see them on the TV when they visit :)

I have considered making a pseudonym account just for Tinder though (hi ladies!)...but greeting people with "my name isn't actually Johnny Depp" does not sound like the best opener either.

i use only signal and Skype lite, sharing photos with family in Google photos, not sure why would i need social network for that

Ehh, most people still respond to SMS faster than anything. If you make an effort to socialize in the real world INSTEAD of via apps, the apps are much more obviously about interacting with brands that pay to get your eyes. I don't use any facebook product; most things have a decent fallback for auth.

Of course this isn't realistic for most young people.

dunno about us, but in Europe everyone has either WhatsApp, Viber or Skype, so even if you leave Facebook there is always alternative to reach someone, if it's really extreme email or SMS work

i am in my 30s, not on any social network (well LinkedIn passively, thinking about closing account after changing job), no Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram, no Snapchat, etc. and have no problem to communicate with people without Facebook, though since i don't wanna have anything to do with Facebook i am ignoring also WhatsApp, if someone wanna contact me they can use SMS, email, normal call, signal and Skype, this require only two apps installed on my phone

i think many people in Europe share same sentiment especially in world after Snowden, i am just always surprised they are still willing to use WhatsApp owned by Facebook such will soon sharing data, can only hope this will push more people to Signal or back to email or SMS, Skype would be alternative but it's still American company mining data

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