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> some interesting, organic, and human ways to bring our social lives online. Let me introduce you to The Private Group Chat where 90% of online social activit

by Swizec 8y ago

> some interesting, organic, and human ways to bring our social lives online. Let me introduce you to The Private Group Chat where 90% of online social activity happens between people under 30. It’s rrally quite fascinating. It’s everything Google+ wanted to be, but totally organic, apread over dozens of chat apps and services, and without the big brother oversight.

evrydayhustling 8y ago
This is a really good point and something an over-30 like yours truly would have an easy time missing even as it happened around us (my most meaningful groups are now distributed over WhatsApp, Slack, and good 'ol email). Happen to know any sources quantifying this phenomenon?
- icelancer 8y ago
  > Happen to know any sources quantifying this phenomenon? Perhaps the best answer you can get here is "no." That's exactly what the privacy advocates would want to hear, yet the phenomenon is very real. I'm in my mid-30s but almost all of my social networking with younger colleagues/friends is done via ephemeral group chats (Snapchat) and Signal. I keep a business Twitter and personal Facebook like everyone else, but any substantial communication is moved offline to encrypted and less-trackable methods. The younger crowd figured out how to use the encryption technologies we've been wondering how everyone will adopt all while we've been missing it. Are they perfect implementations? No. But a lot better than what standard communication looked like years ago.
  - PavlovsCat 8y ago
    It has nothing on the free spirited forums "we" had 20 years ago. How would random people find out about and get into private, encrypted groups? Not at all. It's not the same thing in any shape or form. If anything, a generation gave up even wanting to have a public space and a spirit of tolerance, and retreated into purely private rooms, moderated by private tyrants. Ancient Greeks had a word for people who restrict themselves to the private, and aren't interested in public offices and affairs, which today is an insult -- while what it used to describe is viewed as desirable, something people brag about. Many people gave up, they aren't even part of the discussion anymore. They cannot fathom what is under discussion, because they never had it. It's not that I'm not aware, it's that I weighed it, and found it too light.

by Swizec 8y ago

evrydayhustling 8y ago

This is a really good point and something an over-30 like yours truly would have an easy time missing even as it happened around us (my most meaningful groups are now distributed over WhatsApp, Slack, and good 'ol email). Happen to know any sources quantifying this phenomenon?

icelancer 8y ago
> Happen to know any sources quantifying this phenomenon? Perhaps the best answer you can get here is "no." That's exactly what the privacy advocates would want to hear, yet the phenomenon is very real. I'm in my mid-30s but almost all of my social networking with younger colleagues/friends is done via ephemeral group chats (Snapchat) and Signal. I keep a business Twitter and personal Facebook like everyone else, but any substantial communication is moved offline to encrypted and less-trackable methods. The younger crowd figured out how to use the encryption technologies we've been wondering how everyone will adopt all while we've been missing it. Are they perfect implementations? No. But a lot better than what standard communication looked like years ago.
- PavlovsCat 8y ago
  It has nothing on the free spirited forums "we" had 20 years ago. How would random people find out about and get into private, encrypted groups? Not at all. It's not the same thing in any shape or form. If anything, a generation gave up even wanting to have a public space and a spirit of tolerance, and retreated into purely private rooms, moderated by private tyrants. Ancient Greeks had a word for people who restrict themselves to the private, and aren't interested in public offices and affairs, which today is an insult -- while what it used to describe is viewed as desirable, something people brag about. Many people gave up, they aren't even part of the discussion anymore. They cannot fathom what is under discussion, because they never had it. It's not that I'm not aware, it's that I weighed it, and found it too light.