I finally talked to my old college roommate about the Signal app

We were catching up over coffee in Chicago and he said he stopped using it because 'it just makes you look suspicious now.' That hit different, thinking how a tool for private talk went from smart to shady in some people's eyes in maybe five years. Has anyone else seen that shift in how friends view encryption?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor821mo ago

My friends in the military and a few nurses I know actually use it more now. It's not about being shady, it's just smart for sharing work stuff or personal details you don't want floating around. The idea it looks suspicious says more about the person thinking it than the app.

miles27716d ago

My uncle is a retired cop and he started using Signal a few years back for his fishing group of all things. They plan these big trips and apparently some of the spots are kind of secret so they don't want that posted everywhere. Now his whole lodge uses it for sharing photos and plans. It's wild how people assume the worst when really everyone just wants a bit of control over who sees their stuff. Reminds me of how people used to side eye using cash for anything big like it was automatically drug money when some people just don't want a paper trail for everything.

dixon.amy1mo ago

Seriously, your roommate's take is wild to me. I've had the same chat with a few people who act like using Signal means you're planning a heist. It's just common sense privacy. Like taylor82 said, it's about keeping your work info or private chats safe, not being sneaky. The shift to calling it shady feels like people gave up on having any secrets at all. My book club uses it because we don't need the whole internet knowing our terrible hot takes on novels.