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WhatsApp is the worst app on your Windows 11 PC right now, eating 1.2GB of RAM doing nothing (www.windowslatest.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 7 points 3 months ago* (17 children)

unfortunately switching away from messengers like this is much harder than other stuff cuz you have to move your entire social network over. it can be done, but unless all your friends and family are also foss and privacy nerds it’s going to be difficult

then again idk if it’s possible, but if it is, you should at least use whatsapp within a web browser. it may even consume less ram that way lol

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  • [–] 7 points 3 months ago (16 children)

    It isn't hard to make that move though it's just inconvenient. I wouldn't play along, friends and family can fuck right off if they wont leave. It's directly funding so many nasty things I can't be part of it.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    WhatsApp is used for businesses a ton here in the EU. A customer-facing business owner like a cafe/restaurant it is almost required in some places. So much much more than "inconvenient"

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago

    That's interesting. I'm surprised there isn't a bigger backlash to requiring WhatsApp with the digital sovereignty push I've been hearing about. I work for a US based SaaS provider, and we spent a lot of marketing and sales resources assuring European businesses that we aren't part of the American push to take over the entire tech world.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 months ago (8 children)

    How is using Whatsapp for free funding anything?

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (5 children)

    It is part of the larger Meta machine. Do you not ask to yourself, why are they letting me use this for free? It is a data harvester and tracker. It keeps you in the metaverse. It is a way to make the ad revenue for you worth more.

    All these free services somehow add up to 60 billion in profit every year. And they are expanding, they plan to spend 125-135 billion in AI data centers. They are going to build data centers that will use hundreds of gigawatts in over 10 locations. The power used by each is in the scale of the same as powering all of San Francisco with some of these as 2 to 6 times as much as San Fransisco to put it into perspective.

    They are going to use about 1,000 to 2000 acres each, use 1 to 3 million gallons of water a day (one site is asking for a permit to use 23 million gallons a day).

    All because of people are using "free" apps.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 months ago (4 children)

    I don't have Facebook or Instagram. I use WhatsApp to communicate with my family that are a mix of iOS and Android. I have never seen an ad. As I posted, my WhatsApp uses about 320MB of ram. I have nothing to be outraged about.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago* (3 children)

    You are still contributing to the same situation. It harvests data, keeping you in the system and tracking your habits and connections. From recent reports meta is also reading everything you say. Who you connect to. Where you are.

    You could use any other app you want to and not need this one.

    You are actively participating in paying for metas activities, maybe that is worth thinking about.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (2 children)

    As you are as well by being on Lemmy. Just stop with the fear mongering. You claim ads. I don't see ads. The goal posts keep moving.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    I didn't claim ads, someone else did.

    Also Lemmy isn't a company, it's just a group of enthusiats linking their servers together.

    I am not fear mongering. These are facts, you are contributing to a billionaire that has no good plans for you. You are participating in that. Your data, location, and conversations are tracked. Those are facts.

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  • [–] -1 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    I get the privacy concerns but social isolation is worse for you. Do what you can and don't stress that much about it.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (2 children)

    Privacy is a tiny part of it. It's the directly supporting and funding a multi billion dollar corporation that is actively make everything worse for everyone. Go look at all their planned projects.

    The easiest thing to do is not play along. If you are relying on whatsapp for socializing doesn't that make you want to leave even more?

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago* (1 child)

    No, why would that be the case? All these companies are terrible and there's so much that boycotting can do without isolating you from your social circles. Here in Brazil it was already weird to be telling people I don't have Instagram. Not having WhatsApp means you won't do a lot of stuff, including talking to your doctor. It's not my choice, it's a systemic dependence and yeah, it sucks.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago

    Gotta break the cycle somehow. Participating is being complicit.

    I too had that issue with a doctor. I worked it out though. It's hard when everyone depends on WhatsApp, but I refuse to play along. I will hang out with people who get that, I don't want to associate with people who don't care.

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