The EU wants to decrease reliance on American technology. Here’s what happened when a POLITICO reporter tried to live and work without it.

The EU wants to decrease reliance on American technology. Here’s what happened when a POLITICO reporter tried to live and work without it.

    • LemmyPlaceDN@europe.pubEnglish
      56·
      3 months ago

      The network effect: If everyone you ever message is there and stays there, it’s hard to leave…

        • hansolo@lemmy.todayEnglish
          3·
          3 months ago

          I think it’s more that Lemmy folks assume a lot of universal context from what they know. So maybe get out more and need to interact with humans, but also experience more of the world.

          Some American that only uses iMessage will have no idea what entire continents of people use Whatsapp more than anything else, including to just make calls.

    • pulsewidth@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      3 months ago

      It’s physchology I think.

      People who feel they need to have regular communal celebration of their every thought and act really struggle to consider losing a few contacts who refuse to move to better alternatives. People who are happy to recieve the same ego strokes through fewer closer peers are ok with the move.

      Same with leaving Facebook, Twitter, etc…

      • quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        6·
        3 months ago

        With messaging apps unless the new app does something new they want, people won’t even think about it. Here in Spain the only other app is telegram because it has a bunch of extra things, if the new app does the same why bother. A year ago I installed Signal, only three of my contacts were there and no one else has appeared since.

        Edit: I just checked, now I have 8 contacts on Signal. Yay! Maybe there is hope

        • Europellinore@europe.pubEnglish
          3·
          3 months ago

          Here (Netherlands) basically all our family and friends app groups moved to Signal. Only some groups with parents of the kids’ school class, or colleagues, stubbornly keep clinged to whatsapp. For most cases, some negative news items about whatsapp/Meta/zuckerberg with regards to privacy and/or Zuckerbergs Trump-fetisjism, created enough momentum to move at least half of the group to another app (signal in this case). Afterwards, FOMO usually does the job in getting the other people over as well.

      • Niquarl@lemmy.mlBanned from communityEnglish
        1·
        3 months ago

        Personnaly use it for work too so it’s not even just a social thing

    • hansolo@lemmy.todayEnglish
      5·
      3 months ago

      It’s not even whatsapp specifically. I used to live in a place that only did Viber. Which is just Whatsapp with ads, themed purple. Everyone was on it, and people on whatsapp were maybe 50/50 at best. But without Viber, you didn’t exist and couldn’t message anyone and expect a response.

  • nothingcorporate@lemmy.todayEnglish
    21·
    3 months ago

    The only American software I run is FOSS. I’ve got no problems with FOSS devs of any country. American corporations are the swollen sore on your lip you keep biting. Get rid of them and the world’s your oyster.

  • vogi@piefed.socialEnglish
    17·
    3 months ago

    I kinda feel like all dumb phones have to do is ship with an Signal client, the lack of WhatsApp was apparently the driving reason why the reporter went back and I think its more reasonable to expect friends to move to Signal than to SMS. (Its also really unsecure)
    There are a couple of community made clients I wonder how hard it is to implement the signal protocol.

      • vogi@piefed.socialEnglish
        2·
        3 months ago

        I mean tbh it feels like the EU is putting more pressure on private chats than America does, at least right now. I am not sure how things are in Asia. I think the bigger problem is their reliance on AWS if Bezos or some friend of his does not want Signal to be a thing they can probably just switch it off fairly easy.

    • jabjoe@feddit.ukEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      It’s open. Just compile your own client. Though it’s be allowed on the Signal network. So you have speed up a server too. American and open isn’t a problem.

  • dmalteseknight@programming.devEnglish
    3·
    3 months ago

    I am confused as to why they went with a dumb phone. Why not go with a non american degoogled android phone? Or to even go a step further, get a sailfish OS powered phone.

    • Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      5·
      3 months ago

      The narrator did not want to buy things just for an experiment.

      Notice this sentence (emphasis mine):

      On that first morning, with my iPhone shut off, I reached for a Nokia brick from Finland.

      • dmalteseknight@programming.devEnglish
        1·
        3 months ago

        Pardon me if I am being presumptuous but the title seem to imply that the author was going to use somewhat equivalent non US alternatives rather than rummaging through what they already own.

        To use an analogy, it is as if you have an article titled “I survived 72 hours without eating processed foods” and the author opted not to buy non processed alternatives and just work with with whatever they have at their home. Then you learn it was a couple of onions and a tomato they had in the fridge. If they say they were starving by the end of the experiment, it does not really paint an honest picture of how hard it is to get by without processed foods.