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Comment by moreira | Hacker News Reader

WhatsApp having been bought out by Facebook is a big pain. It's the defacto messenger for cross iOS/Android communication (at least where I live), and it's harder and harder to say "no I don't Facebook".

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I believe you are discovering that living by your principles requires effort. This is a natural discovery and seems to reflect reality.

I have accepted that it's easier and better for me to be a pragmatist on these stances. Especially because the idea that "facebook is ruining democracy/the world/motherhood/apple pie" is my own biased opinion of the future. And I'm no good at predicting the future.

I’m not even thinking about if Facebook is ruining democracy. I just don’t like the company and I don’t want to use their products. Should be straightforward, but isn’t - to the point that you’re even ignoring your own opinion and using it anyway.

My comment was just a reflection on Facebook’s ever-increasing sphere of influence; I would have had no problem using WhatsApp before it belonged to Facebook.

It sounds like you're backing in to your beliefs based on what you like/dislike. Is that what you mean?

Google Hangouts is available for both iOS and Android.

So is Signal, which isn't under the control of a mass surveillance / advertising corporation.

Replacing Facebook with Google is just replacing one form of terminal cancer with another.

Google products mix the terrible data privacy of Facebook with terrible Google product design. No thank you.

Wouldn't texting be the defacto standard, and works everywhere for the last 25 or so years? Or, omg, actually use that phone app in your phone and call, which also works everywhere?

In a lot of countries the majority of phones plans work on a prepaid credit system and every text you send eats up X amount of credits. You can send an unlimited amount of messages and videos on WhatsApp for free if you have access to the internet. Phone calls eat up even more credits, but you can make as many as you want on WhatsApp.

Not sure where you live but in the UK it certainly does seem like -everyone- from all walks has WhatsApp and would rather talk there.

Obviously texts and phone calls are available, and I do not use WhatsApp because it’s Facebook; my comment was just a reflection on how pervasive Facebook is.

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