I don't understand why having more than one chat app is too much for some people. I use signal, whatsapp, discord, irc, google chat, email and messenger without complaint. I can't force people to use my platform of choice so I have to compromise and use what they do with little to no notice on my end. Sure, I am not happy with this situation but I accept it and move on while keeping an eye out for alternatives.

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CoastalCoder 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Maybe related to how much brain space they're willing to spend on that facet of life?

There are certainly parts of my life that would be more optimized if that weren't a constraint.

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MisterTea 3 hours ago | parent [-]

What brain space? These apps take seconds to install and get an account connected. After that you forget it exists until someone messages you.

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dpkirchner 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Consider the opposite direction: what if you want to message someone? What if you haven't messaged them in a while? Imagine you have seven messaging apps installed, some of the names you've forgotten ("Discord", is that obviously a messaging app?). Imagine you know that they're reachable somewhere just not exactly where.

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MisterTea 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I honestly have never had this issue. It's really about focus and effort. If the person is important enough, I will most likely remember how to contact them. I also mostly use email for all important communications so that remains searchable. The other chat apps are all for casual friends and acquaintances that if lost, well so be it.

	▲	NetMageSCW 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		None of my older relatives use email. They can text however (or iMessage, since it is transparent). Not everyone cares so little for friends and acquaintances.

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mingus88 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

And what if you want to contact someone? Are they on signal or WhatsApp or telegram? Or is it discord? Which server? How can I find that thing someone sent? Let me just open all those apps and start searching

I think you underestimate how little tolerance the average person has for this kind of friction. These huge platforms win because everyone is on them and it all just works.

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sodapopcan 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

You are speaking as someone who gives a shit about technology. Many people don't. "Just another account" is a big ask for many, as lots of people don't have password managers. There are a whole shit ton of people who want to use as few apps as they can. Even lots of tech-savvy people, myself included, feel this way.

> After that you forget it exists until someone messages you.

Until you get a random notification asking you to take steps to keep your account active or whatever. You may not care about this, but many people get stressed out about this kind of thing.

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SoftTalker 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Every app you add to your phone is another potential vulnerability. I'm not installing a random discord or irc app just because that's someone's preferred platform. In fact I haven't installed any chat/message apps at all, I use the Messages app from Apple.