Google RCS, which is effectively just another proprietary internet messaging app despite being based on a standard at least claims to use end-to-end encryption, and is probably more resistant to mass surveillance than SMS. If those are your options, Google RCS is an upgrade.

Don’t cut off contacts unless absolutely necessary.

I did it for years, and now I’m living again; I have access to events too, simply because I’m now on WhatsApp and Discord. It’s a shame, but that’s how it is. But you can control what you decide to say, and make a physical appointment and then share IRL.

If you choose to boycott, the big risk is standing alone and just arming yourself, as you mentioned.

I think you already know the answer.

Joining a militant network is another way to find people who share your concerns, but you will have to search for them, and that can require a significant effort. But you will have new friends, and make your socials, bigger. Thats a good thing.

You will have many networks, separated.

I don’t know what else to say.

You can lead a horse to water, you cannot make it drink.

With my people from we use Signal.

Friends and family stick to text as it too hard to make everyone else change.

Because their friends use text… why change…

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

IMHO it’s not just about the messages but whatever else the app might have access to just by being installed on your phone.

Doesn’t Google Messages require access to your contacts to even run? My experience was that it didn’t even ask permission; it just gave itself permission when I first launched it.