■ 🕑 3. 
│  i never used email for anything other than confirmation links and i never
│  needed to send emails to my friends since we lived so close, if i ever
│  had to talk to them i'd just ride my bike to their house
│  that changed when i moved, but by that time we were already using messaging
│  apps on our phones, not ideal since i'm now doing everything i can to stay
│  away from those spyware in disguise while they don't care
│   
└─■ 🕑 4. 
  │  You may be able to get friends to install Signal... 
  │  the install process is painless and it's not like they have to do 
  │  anything complicated to use it (you text them, they get a notification)
  │  
  │  I managed to get my 60 something year old parents on it no problem. 
  │  
  │  Email isn't really spyware-free since most people end up using Google
  │  or whatever, but at least you don't feel pressured to respond quickly. 
  │  What I hate most about FB messenger (and WhatsApp, Instagram, etc): 
  │   that it shows "last active" and has read receipts. 
  │   
  └─■ 🕑 5. 
      unfortunately almost all of my friends are the stubborn/complacent type when
      it comes to phones and computers, I tried to get them on something else
      in the past but with limited success (only one of them gave in)