My sister was angered when I quit whatsapp (and facebook), asking me reasons why and if it was because I didn't like her. Told her I like my privacy. Haven't heard of her and a lot of other family since who only like to communicate through social media. Good.
I like SMS and Signal, only people that care for me are using that because I asked them to.
I’m there with you on the ideals, after all here I am on Lemmy (and mastodon fwiw) with Reddit and TwitterX deleted.
But, everybody I am close to in everyday life is a normie for lack of a better term. I don’t have to use Facebook regularly, for example, but there is a practical value to just having it available and checking notifications from time to time.
Kind of like how I’m looking through some code in Linux at work today, but it’s running in a VM on my Microsoft/O365 equipped PC. Much like with Facebook, factors outside my control necessitate using it, so I accept it without stressing myself.
I’m not trying to argue or convince you to change your ways though! FLOSS and privacy need awareness and advocacy, and therefore need strong outspoken supporters!
Not to burst your bubble but SMS is even less secure than WhatsApp. In fact, SMS is among the least secure communication avenues on a phone, since your telecommunications provider has the ability to keep logs of what you send, when you send it and to whom you send it to.
Not to mention how insecure 4G is and how easy it is to intercept other people's messages
Cutting off your family because you care about privacy is still weird unless you have poor relationship with them. Op mentioned not hearing back from them so it seems they're not even using any other methods.