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It is an option, believe me, you're just doing what your employer tells you to.
But they can't force you to use WhatsApp unless you signed a contract of employment stating so? And if you did that the onus falls on you.
My employer is me.
I'm doing what my clients tell me, because it's generally considered to be a good business practice to not argue with one's clients unless you have a good reason to do so.
And that's why if I was self employed I'd use another phone entirely or promote the usage of some other way of contacting me/us. Never would I have WhatsApp installed on my personal device (Dual SIM and all) since it's my choice, which I can make.
Peer pressure, social norms, and even "bosses demanding you join their WhatsApp to communicate" is a non starter here.
I think it annoys my immediate boss that I use our corporate email for everything, or even simply calling them telling them the most menial of things.
Oh, it's my choice to approach every potential client with a long-winded pitch about why I'm off the grid and don't believe in telephones.
It's just terrible for business, and since I do like to consume food to keep this sack of meat running, I don't do that.
Look, there are two things happening here:
One, you don't seem to get to what extent Meta has entirely replaced key parts of the communications infrastructure in several parts of the world. You may as well be advocating communication via carrier pigeon.
Two, you get a kick out of being the difficult contrarian weirdo that refuses to submit to the mainstream of modern tech because you work for some boss that thinks it's worth getting your skills despite that song and dance, so there is no immediate downside. I know. Been there, done that. When you freelance you get way less precious about that, by necessity.
And yes, by the way, I do keep separate hardware and software environments to isolate some predatory applications to work hardware. That is viable. Just... not for Whatsapp. Because EVERYBODY uses it and I like my friends and family to keep talking to me, too.
That's the thing.....I do understand your qualms about having to use them even if it irks you no end because you're 'now not a weirdo', and having run establishments prior to these days I find it amusing that you're now required to indulge in sharing your contact list because it's the "norm".
Which is awesome because I somehow manage to keep in touch with fellow friends, colleagues, family and even talking to others on platforms such as this without conglomerates poking my metadata ~~too~~ as much.
edit: too > as
I'm still a weirdo, but I can't afford to be a weirdo performatively these days.
So yeah, I can default to Firefox or keep the MS tools I have to use for work on its own contained browser instance, or refuse to use Samsung or Apple phones or whatever other act of technological petty rebellion that I want. But the point I'm making is that cutting the cord on Whatsapp is not practical for daily use in this region. It's very different in the US and in some other territories, but here it's definitely not.
It's far easier to step away from Twitter, Instagram and even Facebook than it is to do the same with Whatsapp here. That's the big takeaway that I want to convey here.
And I'm conveying your blind spot which seems to be that you can't function in this society without WhatsApp, which I've done since its inception.
And I'm sure I will perform equally well as yourself and others going into the future without it.
But you and I don't seem to be in the same society.
This is a heavily regional issue, which is my entire point. There is no iMessage alternative, we aren't in a WeChat area, or a Telegram area. Here it's overwhelmingly Whatsapp.
This is not the same everywhere. Social media is global, but the mix of it is far from universal.
Messaging others is not "social media", and you conflating that with using a messaging app is fairly telling.
I don't intend to nor use iMessage.
But it is, is the point.
Like, here it is.
Whatsapp (and Telegram, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Line... whatever is your local poison) have absorbed texting entirely. Whatsapp drives all texting, a significant chunk of voice calls, a lot of non-work videoconferencing and it serves as a Discord-like group chat platform for a lot of people. That's how your grandma got radicalized over here, not Facebook proper.
Again, social media is more regional than people think, and it often doesn't look like Twitter, Instagram or even Facebook.
No in some cases it's literally not an option.
Good luck telling employers around the world 'no like WhatsApp, begone!'.