If you asked me the same stuff even just 5 years ago I would have responded the same. I am a tech enthusiast and work in tech. It took some time for me to understand the risks of not taking privacy seriously. I needed to discover how companies like Meta, Google or Microsoft collect and abuse our deeply personal information.

So, I recommend doing the same to people around you. Inform them of particular examples (e.g. Google flagging a photo of a baby taken for doctor’s analysis as CSAM), not just the risks. You may change the opinion of a few people, but it is unreasonable and unlikely for you to affect everyone around you the same way.

I have managed to ditch WhatsApp (thankfully) and it has been years since I last had to migrate to a new device. The process was quite simple, at least as far as I can remember.

First, navigate to the backup menu (in WhatsApp) where you are supposed to choose a Google account and backup frequency. I think there should be a button named “backup now” or something. This will create a local backup located at Android/data_or_media/whatever_whatsapps_app_id_is. Browse the directory and you should see your backup in a nested folder.

Then, migrate this folder to the new device and put it in the same location before installing WhatsApp. After you install and open WhatsApp, it should prompt you to import your old messages from the backup.