Why Telegram is getting worse

Simply put, stories. And a bunch of other social crap. There’s a reason people call it a messenger — it has to do one job well, message. Imagine a post officer delivering your mail, but on occasion they would start telling you gossips about your neighbours too. Without you consenting, of course. That’s what I think is happening to Telegram.

WhatsApp went south. Facebook’s Messenger went south (no wonder, both are owned by Meta). Now Telegram is becoming new Instagram with its stories and inability to disable them. There’s a reason I went off social media. I don’t want to see your amazing life, albeit I’m glad you are eating well and are going places. But let me choose things I want to see from you (your messages) and things I don’t want to see from you (everything else).

No, archiving stories doesn’t help. They disappear from the top bar but still highlight the user’s profile picture, nudging me to check what’s new. Telegram sells a premium package that allows me to post stories. I would get a premium to never see them.

Alternatives? I like Signal. Its UI is horrendous, and its Linux app takes a week to load the chat history. But it works. It lets me text people, and there’s no stupid social stuff. It’s also encrypted and my conversations belong to me and me only. Its source code is public. It’s run by a non-profit org.

There’s only one little problem with Signal — my friends don’t use it.