I have resisted installing it from the start. Of course I felt some pressure about this. People never built the expectation I had WhatsApp. I never stopped advocating against it (in a nice way, without blaming people). Now, more and more people have been installing Signal and now I can have group discussions again.

We are many who don't like Facebook. If enough of us resist, WhatsApp will stop being so pervasive and "mandatory".

It has happened in my social circles. There's no drawback anymore for me to not having WhatsApp. When there was, I still had a fulfilling social life, with as many friends, or even more, than average. I was still invited to events, I was still able to organize events, etc.

If people like you, they'll reach you. Having WhatsApp is just convenient, not a determining factor.

Most people now understand that privacy is an important topic and will cope with you not having WhatsApp, or even embrace your action.

The world needs you to become better. Of course it's not easy. But it's not inevitable.

Again, WhatsApp might (still) be mandatory to you today. Okay! You are stuck with it for now. Fine. I understand. But do something about it! Advocate for something else! You can do it gently without pissing people off (which would be the best way to fail convincing them anyway)

If nobody does anything about it, we are stuck with Meta.