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Three years ago, I wrote an article on my decision to quit WhatsApp. I recently installed it again when I found myself in need of finding a place to live in a foreign country within a 30-day window. I tried using Telegram, iMessage, or SMS, but people just wouldn't answer me or would ask to move the chat to WhatsApp.

I got the place, but now the real estate agent and the landlord had chats with me, and it felt inconvenient to explain to them to contact me elsewhere. I met other new people, and you can guess the default app where we would start a chat. For every new person, it becomes harder to quit again.

I now find myself using 3 messaging apps and having to keep mental notes on where to message each person. I've seen one solution that aims to solve this issue by grouping all services in one app, while everyone else can keep using whatever they prefer. It doesn't solve the root cause, and I'd prefer not to keep accounts on all chat apps—plus one.

I'm all for free markets, but imagine a company owning the air that carries your speech to another person's ears. That seems to be the case for WhatsApp and Meta, which is so prevalent almost everywhere.

We could dive deeper on all kinds of matters that revolve around this subject, but I've been excited for the RCS support on iOS 18. The protocol exists for a while, but it is not practical to see it as a solution if the OS used by about half of all people doesn't support it.

All nice RCS features aside, what I like the most is that each company or developer can build their apps on top of it while maintaining the ability to talk to apps from other parties that implement the same protocol—like email.

iOS 18 finally arrived, but it came as a surprise that my current carrier in Italy didn't support RCS. Apple supposedly introduced RCS on iOS 18 due to pressure from the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). However, none of the carriers in Europe seemed to support RCS by the time iOS 18 came out, and they are not even in the scope of the DMA, so they are not legally required to provide the necessary infrastructure to enable interoperability between messaging apps, as sought by the regulators.

Now, two months later, 16 carriers are listed as supporting RCS, but some countries are still left with no support at all. I want to make the jump as soon as I have a supportive carrier near me, but not all of my contacts might have it by then. Messaging apps can always fall back to SMS, the king of all messaging protocols, but the overall success of such change will ultimately depend on the network effect.


Protocols are greater than apps


I deactivated my Instagram account circa 2019. I remember at the time being concerned about my mind and behavior getting shaped by the platform, as the line between real life and social media started to blur.

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I deactivated my Instagram account circa 2019. I remember at the time being concerned about my mind and behavior getting shaped by the platform, as the line between real life and social media started to blur.

Recently, though, some childhood memory urged me to reach someone that I couldn’t find elsewhere, and as a reflex, I installed the app and reactivated my account. Being back for a few moments made me realize I took a significant turn, socially, when I quit.

When logging in, I immediately felt this sensation that “things are happening here on Instagram”, and it felt very real and natural. It was like I’ve been isolated in an island for a long time and then dropped into a big party where I know almost everyone. Those people have been partying nonstop for years.

It’s funny to think that things are happening _there_, and not _here_. Presence might be a scarce asset, and that might explain the lack of it in some places in real life.

I was very careful not to scroll through anything and get sucked in, but I got a glimpse of a couple faces in the stories row and the messages list. I was confused. The faces looked familiar but I couldn’t remember who they were. That made me extremely curious so I visited their profiles, and eventually remembered who they were: acquaintances that I met somewhere in life who simply are not part of my life anymore. Seems like our brains naturally erase things that don’t matter, but the platform will keep them forever in your digital mind.

I reached my childhood memory person, and she promptly responded. It felt so easy and effortless, considering that I studied with her in primary school and don’t see or talk to her for more than 20 years.

My mind was all fired up and it felt like I smoked crack. I had my little interaction and then deactivated my account again. I found myself shocked with the brief revisit to that place. I then came up with this Red Pill (from The Matrix) analogy. For those not familiar:

> The **red pill** and **blue pill** represent a choice between the willingness to learn a potentially unsettling or life-changing truth by taking the red pill or remaining in the contented experience of ordinary reality with the blue pill

[Red pill and blue pill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pill_and_blue_pill)

Real (social) life can often be hard, ugly, lonely, slow, empty or boring. But quite rewarding if you put the effort.

Instagram is incredibly appealing. It allows quick and effortless connection in a controlled and safe, comfortable and stimulating environment. In fact, I felt good seeing those familiar faces, and some part of me wanted to be active on the platform again, as it definitely enables social connection. But I feel like _it is all an illusion_, and it has a toll on your mental health.

I have used other forms of social media, like Strava, and have consumed content in platforms like YouTube. But Instagram incorporated too much of the social engagements, at least for my generation and circles, and it seems like the human minds adapted very well to it to the point of changing how people see the world, their interactions and experiences, thus effectively transforming our reality.


The Social Red Pill

A poem

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Decaffeinated coffee

Electronic cigarette
 
Non-alcoholic beer
 
Gluten-free bread

Virtual reality
 
Electric car
 
Acrylic nail

Indoor bike
 
Vegan meat

Dating app

Artificial intelligence


Until not so long time ago, if you were a kid who wanted to move yourself on wheels, the most obvious and sometimes only choice was the bicycle

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Until not so long time ago, if you were a kid who wanted to move yourself on wheels, the most obvious and sometimes only choice was the bicycle, this beautiful human-propelled vehicle that can take many sizes and forms and ride through almost any terrain. Some would never ride a bike again when they grow up, but many will use it as a medium of transportation, some as a way to exercise, to explore the outdoors, and even the world. Maybe even become a professional athlete.

I’ve been noticing the electric scooter taking the place of the bicycle. This device will take you places at considerable speeds with the push of a button while you stand up on a floorboard. It has one of the most stupid form factors among vehicles, being less rigid than other two-wheeled vehicles and having terrible handling and turning angle.

Despite it can be fun and practical—I’ve ridden and had fun with it a few times—it is more like a toy that moves. It won’t take you longer distances, the small wheels struggle even within the city, the body is not very extensible and it lacks balance and stability for more intense applications.

I cannot deny that, in the bigger picture, there’s a lot of overlap between electric scooters and bicycles, especially on the subject of urban mobility. It’s still debatable though whether they are sustainable and reliable in the long term, due to their reliance on lithium batteries and possibly worse maintainability due to lack of a mature ecosystem for parts and service.

One thing in particular that got me slightly concerned is that some kids could skip the bike completely for the electric scooter. If anything, they will grow up to become inactive adults who drive a car, or even worse, a motor scooter, which is the most ridiculous kind of two-wheeled motor vehicle.

As a grown-up who was introduced to a bike when younger, and had it unfold into this ever-fascinating thing that provided me with such rich and unique experiences, I feel somehow sorry when I see young folks standing up on a flat platform moving around with the push of a button.


The vehicle equivalent of the smartphone


I am a creator of digital products at [Quartzo](https://quartzo.studio), [amateur cyclist](https://www.strava.com/athletes/17408874), [photographer](https://photo.dlbn.co), and digital nomad.


An app to track bike components, their maintenance cycles and lifespan

geer

Map design tool for creating beautiful, high-res, publishable route maps and visualizations for sports events

Co-creator

Open source

Protocols are greater than apps

The Social Red Pill

Artificial intelligence

The vehicle equivalent of the smartphone