I know what you mean @unschoolingme (like the name btw). I'm on minds, bitchute and some other decentralized platforms and I am also trying to find something where you can add friends, make posts visible only to people that you wish show them to, like facebook. A built in encrypted messaging/calling app like messenger.
Maybe this will come to steemit in some kind of app or a new platform all together, if it's not available somewhere already. Either way, I'm sure somebody is working on it as there would be great demand for this, especially now, with the current state of the centralized platforms unscrupulous behaviour.
Long live blockchain!