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Comment by firecall | Hacker News Reader

Not around these parts!

They all use Discord and/or Snapchat here in Australia. No one I've every asked about this cares about Android vs iPhone. No one.

No one apart from the Parents uses the built in messaging and SMS.

But then the Parent groups all use Facebook Messenger for most group comms.

The whole green / blue bubble thing is either over played by the Press or purley a US Phenomenon.

But given the marketshare of the iPhone with teenagers in the US, it seems it's possibly less of an issue its made out to be due to the fact that most people have iPhones anyway!

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>No one I've every asked about this cares about Android vs iPhone. No one.

They wouldn't necessarily tell if they did though...

This is more like "I asked 100 men if they worry their D is small, and nobody said yes".

Haha! :-)

But not really IMHO, as it’s not a status thing.

They say they don’t care because the my don’t care. They just don’t use the built in message apps outside of texting a parent to be picked up LOL

I think you missed the entire point of the comment above. It's not about iOS vs Android but about not being included socially, regardless of the platform. Imagine in your example where one kid in a group didn't use Discord, they'd be effectively cut off.

I can see how it seems like I might have :-)

But I understand the point well.

Discord and SnapChat are available for iOS and Android.

With Discord being available as good as everywhere.

So using Android does not exclude you socially in my experience, here in Australia.

Similarly in Europe and the UK, the What’s App was hugely popular and the default cross platform messenger.

I don’t entirely believe the rhetoric around Green and Blue bubbles that the press repeat without any real evidence. :-)

Again you miss the point entirely. This is not Apple vs Android. This is teenagers not being given a choice whether or not to use social media generally.

The fact is if everyone else uses it, this precludes them from many normal interactions that get replaced by social media. It's a cultural thing as much as it is a personal thing. You will feel excluded if you don't use it, so unless everyone changes, it's hard for you to change. That takes a determination even many adults lack.

The harmful effects of social media are not eliminated by choosing not to participate. They have a cultural impact (both benefit and harm) that expands beyond an individuals choice. We should reconsider how to handle teenagers on social media as a society. Not just tell them to preclude themselves if it's harming them.

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