popular applications such as [snip]
i'm quite proud to be using unpopular message applications 
I'm not too fond of those apps either, but I simply don't have too many choices if I want to communicate with people who mostly use those apps. I know there are alternatives, but persuading people to use them is very difficult, similar to how most people still use Twitter (or is it called X now?) regardless of the alternatives.
I got my new phone a few years back, and I haven't given the actual telephone number to more than about 10 people IIRC. and very few actually use that number out of those who have it, almost all messaging/calls happen over internet-based comms for me. e-SIMs with no phone number seem to be a (belated) recognition of how meaningless the telephone system is these days, a few changes to my lifestyle and I think I could ditch telephones altogether
I also have a smartphone that is several years old and I paid about 700 EUR for it, and I still consider it a very good device, although unfortunately it has not received any update for more than 1 year. Unfortunately, the official specifications say that it does not support eSIM, but when the time comes for a new device, I will definitely pay attention that it also has that feature.
As for having a phone number, I obviously live in a country where it is almost necessary, whether it is to deliver a package (the delivery person always makes a call before delivery) or to receive notifications from a government service or even from your doctor.