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0 pointsratg133y ago0 comments

I've lived many places in Europe and I'd say it's accurate.

It's not that text messages aren't sent, it's just that they are only ever a fallback for when primary communication channels are not available.

Pretty much everyone's SMSes are just MFA codes, "your pizza is ready", "your package is delivered", and so on.

Almost nobody that talks to each other regularly uses SMS.

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7 comments · 2 top-level

izacus3y ago· 5 in thread

Again, that is nowhere near true and it's easy to verify.

And we didn't even get to the point that the communications platform used instead of an open standard is owned by a single corporation - Facebook.

marginalia_nu3y ago

Really? I'm yet another European who only ever gets SMS from my elderly mother, for 2FA (usually only when dealing with American companies), parcel deliveries, and so on. Oh, and spam and frauds, that's like 75% of the messages I get.

hulitu3y ago

Come to Germany. Enjoy the power of digital communication. I work in a town close to the city center in a new building and i have to go to a certain window to be able to talk on the phone. To have cellular data i have to go out of the building.

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arinlen3y ago

> I'm yet another European who only ever gets SMS from my elderly mother, for 2FA (usually only when dealing with American companies), parcel deliveries, and so on.

I'm yet another European and even though apps like WhatsApp and Signal are very popular, SMS is still used very often.

Apps like WhatsApp do have an advantage like better UX, group chat, better allowlists, online presence status indicators, multimedia support, and multi-platform support.

redox993y ago

Can you show such verification?

I'm from Argentina and here absolutely nobody uses SMS. As parent said, it's only used for 2FA, delivery notifications, etc (although some companies here do 2FA with whatsapp too).

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kioleanu3y ago

I am also very interested in data to support your claim. I offered my anecdotical experience and you're saying (quite aggressively) that that is objectively not true. Can you please provide a comparison between the # of messages sent as SMS and messages sent through Whatsapp and other services?

arinlen3y ago

> Almost nobody that talks to each other regularly uses SMS.

OP claims no one uses SMS at, and your reply was "I agree, no one uses SMS except for all these reasons they message all the time".

Also, it makes no sense to claim that no one uses SMS just because some people also use another means of communication like WhatsApp or email. It would make as much sense as claiming no one uses WhatsApp because they spend more time on Instagram or Twitter.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

7 comments · 2 top-level

izacus3y ago· 5 in thread

Again, that is nowhere near true and it's easy to verify.

And we didn't even get to the point that the communications platform used instead of an open standard is owned by a single corporation - Facebook.

marginalia_nu3y ago

hulitu3y ago

2 more replies

arinlen3y ago

> I'm yet another European who only ever gets SMS from my elderly mother, for 2FA (usually only when dealing with American companies), parcel deliveries, and so on.

I'm yet another European and even though apps like WhatsApp and Signal are very popular, SMS is still used very often.

Apps like WhatsApp do have an advantage like better UX, group chat, better allowlists, online presence status indicators, multimedia support, and multi-platform support.

redox993y ago

Can you show such verification?

I'm from Argentina and here absolutely nobody uses SMS. As parent said, it's only used for 2FA, delivery notifications, etc (although some companies here do 2FA with whatsapp too).

1 more reply

kioleanu3y ago

arinlen3y ago

> Almost nobody that talks to each other regularly uses SMS.

OP claims no one uses SMS at, and your reply was "I agree, no one uses SMS except for all these reasons they message all the time".

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse