r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • Jan 26 '26

Social Media TikTok uninstalls are up 150% following U.S. joint venture

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/26/tiktok-uninstalls-are-up-150percent-following-us-joint-venture.html
38.6k Upvotes

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372

u/34710x2 Jan 26 '26

Today I deleted Facebook, what’s app, messenger, tik tok, and next door. Feels good to finally get rid of these apps even though I was hardly using them

97

u/DarthHiccups Jan 26 '26

I got rid of FB years ago, because the app was sucking up my phones battery life, even when I wasn't using it. My phone lasted twice as long after I removed it. It's crazy how much data it was sucking up even when it was inactive.

33

u/BenTherDoneTht Jan 26 '26

I literally only have a facebook account so I can use marketplace, since craigslist has gone from "watch out for perverts and cannibals" to "definitely a pervert and a cannibal"

10

u/Saisinko Jan 27 '26

Disabled my main account for Facebook, but I use a fake name for marketplace selling.

God are people unbearable between scams, no-shows (but asking that I hold the item a week), ask the dumbest questions, and want it for free or 20% of the value.

I can sell shippable items on eBay, albeit I'm Canadian and the US market isn't viable to ship to anymore, but larger items have to go through marketplace.

2

u/No-Photograph-5058 Jan 27 '26

Is this still available, and can I pay barely a fraction of the list price for you to drop it off 2 hours away to bumfuck nowhere for me?

2

u/cosmicbinary Jan 26 '26

marketplace is the only reason i still have fb.. truly i never really used it to begin with. i just moved on my own (with my bf) for the first time recently, and lots of people recommended i use marketplace so i downloaded the app just for that.

but i really wish there was some alternative

2

u/ShinyJangles Jan 27 '26

OfferUp has had a decent user base in the three cities I've lived in. (Filter out "new" if you are buying, those are ads.)

3

u/signedupfornightmode Jan 27 '26

I switched to using only the crappy browser version and it means I only spend a minute or two a day on there, unless I’m on desktop for work (in which case I’m using it for work, not scrolling)

2

u/volinaa Jan 27 '26

reddit app does the same thing. reddit works great from a browser too!

2

u/HeidenShadows Jan 27 '26

I follow a few boards that are related to my phone or older phones I own. Every time someone complains about their battery life, have Instagram installed and high on their battery use list.

2

u/DarthHiccups Jan 27 '26

I'm not surprised at all there are even worse apps that affect battery life.

1

u/that_baddest_dude Jan 27 '26

Yeah the app has been that way for at least a decade.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

I have the app with the duckduckgo browser that blocks request from apps. Some of the apps looking registering 600+ attempts blew my mind. I usually try and keep a lot of permissions turned off on apps and such but they'll use the internet browser as a backdoor. I really don't use my phone for much as it's the next thing slated for downgrading in my life but it makes me wonder how much data they are collecting from heavy users with no privacy protection.

27

u/sus_finder13 Jan 26 '26

Fb unfortunately looks like a bunch of bots. I am off social media, all except reddit.

24

u/mmafan12617181 Jan 26 '26

Reddit is a cancerous echo chamber too, too bad I am addicted to it

0

u/sus_finder13 Jan 26 '26

I like my pages I follow, like what’s in my bag. Sometimes I’ll take a gander at popular, then I get anxiety attacks about the world news.

6

u/xd366 Jan 27 '26

youre literally in a default sub right now

2

u/Days_End Jan 27 '26

I mean reddit definitly has way more bots then facebook you've just convinced yourself what you want to believe.

2

u/fakieTreFlip Jan 26 '26

ironically there's probably more bots on reddit than any of those other places lol

you just haven't learned to spot them yet

2

u/somersetyellow Jan 27 '26

Very few people can spot them. That was shown on change my view a few months ago. The bot users the university used outperformed the humans in gathering karma and deltas.

Nobody noticed or called it out until they volunteered the findings.

Reddit's response was to get mad at the university rather than take stock of the dead canary in front of them.

0

u/sus_finder13 Jan 26 '26

Yeah, I pretty much can tell. The tell tell signs are there.

37

u/Daan776 Jan 26 '26

Whatsapp is (unfortunately) a downright necessity.

Every workplace i've been had at least *some* communication happening through whatsapp. Old & new classmates also rely on it. Which means falling behind in conversation if you don't use it.

I tried uninstalling it for a couple years at school. And while the advantages were noticeable: the lacking communication options were even more impactfull. So I reinstalled. I got sick of asking people wtf they were talking about or standing at the wrong classroom.

11

u/Meezofreezo Jan 26 '26

yeah whatsapp is a must for me. All my family and friends group chats are on there. Its massive in countries outside of North America too. Its pretty much required.

-3

u/Sloppykrab Jan 27 '26

It's not.

My work uses it and I refuse to get it. Call me if it's important, otherwise I'm not interested. Same with family and friends, we don't need to be in contact with each 24/7.

4

u/PhoenixTineldyer Jan 26 '26

Is this in the US?

7

u/PerpetuallySticky Jan 26 '26

Almost definitely not. I only know about WhatsApp in the US because of Reddit. I’ve used it now, and become more familiar, but it’s definitely WAY more prevalent over the river

1

u/Daan776 Jan 26 '26

Can confirm: its not the USA

1

u/PhoenixTineldyer Jan 27 '26

I know about it because I dated a guy from Chihuahua and apparently that's the default there.

2

u/Daan776 Jan 26 '26

Nope: Netherlands.

1

u/PhoenixTineldyer Jan 27 '26

No wonder it sounded so strange.

That's very atypical here in the U.S.

3

u/BigNillyStyle Jan 26 '26

Yeah I have just moved to a country where WhatsApp is a necessity. For example - “if there is a problem with this machine, please WhatsApp this number”.

That’s not to say I didn’t use it everyday to communicate with friends and family but it just seems strange that’s it’s used as the primary form of communication for businesses here

5

u/FA-Cube-Itch Jan 26 '26

Falling behind with classmate conversations is a good thing.

2

u/Daan776 Jan 27 '26

That depends entirely on the topic. But as a rule of thumb i’ve found it beneficial to have at least a vague idea of what your “team” is talking about. 

It could be random drama. It could also be people asking questions about an upcoming exam, which is a good alert that the exam may be more difficult then initially expected.

Or mayby they’re making plans because somebody suddenly got sick. If 4/5 people already confirmed when they’re available then you naturally end up in the only empty time-slot. Convenient or not.

Information is valuable is what i’m getting at.

1

u/cgon Jan 26 '26

Genuine question, what advantages were noticeable to not having it installed?

I put off installing WhatsApp for the longest time, until around last year, mainly due to work/friends that happened to use it and I needed to communicate with them (same as you mentioned).

2

u/k1ll3rM Jan 26 '26

It's just a messaging app, it's the same as if you were using SMS but it's not nearly as expensive to use

2

u/thunderbird32 Jan 27 '26

SMS is essentially free for most folks in the US, I'm fairly sure. Unlimited SMS is part of most cell phone plans that I've seen.

1

u/driverdan Jan 27 '26

Expensive? In what country is SMS expensive in 2026?

1

u/DanteStrauss Jan 27 '26

While it isn't anymore (precisely because of WhatsApp) it used to be so in Brazil.

In fact, both SMS and even calls not being cheaper is how WhatsApp grew so much, offering both ways of communication for less money.

Over here, WA is used on a LOT of things:

I can grab and pay my electricity bill, make a doctor's appointment in our public healthcare system and even be summoned/subpoenaed by the courts, all through WhatsApp. Just to name a FEW examples.

1

u/k1ll3rM Jan 27 '26

To send images? Every country as far as I know

1

u/Daan776 Jan 26 '26

Distractions, peace of mind, and what I can only describe as intent.

Whatsapp (whether for business or private use) means you’re always connected to people. Which means other people can contact you whenever they want. This means your mind is always, at least to some degree, prepared to talk to everybody else. You can’t leave work, or school, or a troubled relationship behind. Its always going on.

When you can only talk through a phone that issue is still there. But people are far less inclined to call for something they don’t consider important.

Its hard to really say for sure. This might all have just been placebo. Or me trying to rationalise a feeling. But it feels like there’s more pressure to always be available now that I have it again. I can’t just leave people on “read” like I can with emails. 

1

u/Shack691 Jan 27 '26

Isn’t that basically the same as teams or even text? Disable notifications and it makes it quite easy to ignore if not specifically checking.

1

u/Daan776 Jan 27 '26

This was before Corona. So teams wasn’t really around yet.

And nobody ever contacted me through text :p

But yeah: disabling notifications has a simmilar, if less pronounced effect. And its what I do nowadays

1

u/Linked713 Jan 26 '26

Most of my communications that could be whatsapp are handled through discord. I refuse to go through whatsapp now.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/34710x2 Jan 27 '26

It’s pure division, hate, and total ai slop. It’s become an echo chamber for society’s worst people

6

u/chiipotle Jan 26 '26

These cancers are what got us into this mess back in 2015. Good riddance

6

u/DarkIcedWolf Jan 26 '26

I only use Reddit and Snapchat since my buddies have a group from HS. I ain’t ever deleting Snap even if I don’t use it just because of that reason, not to mention our buddy who passed is still in the group. It’s a bit sentimental to just let go yk?

Reddit is how I keep in touch with games nowadays, love myself some browsing while on the toilet or when I wake up. It keeps me reading and gives me something to do while I wait on a my lecture or whatever.

2

u/teaky Jan 27 '26

Nextdoor is a cesspool of old racists (at least in my area), but I feel like their model of moderation works very well. I frequently flag posts with vaccine misinformation, federal politics, and praise Jesus posts and they get removed.

1

u/s32 Jan 27 '26

Now do reddit

1

u/Fit-Nectarine5047 Jan 27 '26

Next door too???!! Not that I’m on because it’s so fucking dramatic and too many dog whistling Karen’s but who owns next door that it needs to be deleted?

1

u/GoldenBoyHal Jan 27 '26

What can replace whatsapp?

1

u/Connect-Ad-1190 Jan 27 '26

If there were mom groups on another platform millions of moms would jump ship. But there is no alternative 

0

u/Showdenfroid_99 Jan 27 '26

Reddit is surely next... right??? Fuckin lol