The contrary happens to me. When I say I don't have facebook they immediately asks what about your "instaaaaaa" which I also do not have. The usual curious expressions follows but many times it is replaced by admiration. Many people I interact with say exactly what you just said, I wish I could be like you, but family.... to what I always reply well, my family knows my number 😂 Exceptions exist. This lady that works on my shooting range needed to contact me for some documentation. When I said I din't have WhatsApp she got angry saying how do you expect to be contacted. I always answer the same: when I need to contact someone, I find my ways. If someone is interested in contacting me, either they will find a way or it is not of my interest, hence, not my problem. That one got very mad.
Discussion
Well, the thing about the number is that I only give that out to friends and family that I know won't bug me all the time 🤷♂️😂 But also, in a way, I would say that using Messenger is definitely a *little* bit more secure than using SMS, considering the fact that SMS is completely unencrypted, whereas Messenger does encrypt in transit and is now partially end-to-end encrypted.
It's not ideal either way, but unlike a criminal tapping a cell tower, Meta can only do so much with my data in a legal way. So yeah, at the end of the day, if I can get a person using Signal instead of Meta's chat apps, that's great, but I will still take WhatsApp or Messenger over SMS.
I have 3 SIM cards. 2 in a dual-chip dumb phone and 1 in my company issued iPhone. I share one of my dumb SIM numbers to stores and people I deal with in the street. The second dumb SIM number I share with online stores or whoever needs to reach me when I am expecting an online purchase. Both have redirects to my real number that only my family knows. In my iPhone I have two do not disturb rules. One 24x7 that only allows incoming calls from family. Another 8x5 that allows incoming calls and notifications from teams and work directory. Everything else is routed from those two numbers (Street and Internet). Rarely I am annoyed by anyone. It’s very neat and not relying on virtual numbers or anything that breaks. It is a setup I’m using for 7 years with great success. And yeah, I ignore all SMS as they are usually always SPAM.