To ask people to dispense with whatsapp, instagram or facebook is to ask them to abandon their ability to be part of communities that matter to them. It’s sort of an intractable problem as it requires whole communities to abandon ship together, which is difficult to do.

This is the core problem of getting rid from these social networks. I stopped using Facebook a long time ago and Whatsapp shortly after Facebook acquired them. As I was the only one in my family and friends circle doing this, I was also the most lonely one. Suddenly I could not be part of the discussions when or what to do next or other fun talks. I was the outside who communicated with one or few over email, just to tell me where to meet next in example. (Also not using Twitter or most other social networks…)

It’s an organizational problem off course but this showed me why social media once got foothold in the mass, is hard to abandon individually. For a person like me, its not a big deal. But getting rid of Facebook and Whatsapp at the same time, without everyone switching to an alternative is a big deal for most.