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I'm not a teen, but a parent with almost teen kids! And I can confirm, they don't really care :-) Discord is their go-to chat platform on their gaming PCs, iP

I'm not a teen, but a parent with almost teen kids! And I can confirm, they don't really care :-) Discord is their go-to chat platform on their gaming PCs, iPads and iPhones. TBF One of my kids did ask about the bubble colour thing, but they dont actually care. They love Discord, where as I find it impossible LOL! Which makes perfect sense! Their Discord chats are irreverent and full of memes, their avatars and nicknames are totally random to me! Which is as it should be! iMessage is great and all - but it's very stuffy and old and corporate compared to how I see my kids using Discord!

fartcannon 5y ago
Its kind if funny that Apple Facetime and Facebook are the way my child speeks with his grandmother. He loves his grandma, but the tech will forever be old and lame as a result. The same will happen to Discord, too. Personally, I still think ICQ and IRC are the epitome of chat applications.
- gogopuppygogo 5y ago
  DeadAIM by JimADI was the epitome of chat for me... There was AIM+ as well... It seems like yesterday we NEEDED to hack a chat client to remove ads to make it usable... Kind of how we use adblocking on web browsers to make the web usable...
  - btbuilder 5y ago
    While removing the ad was the first feature I think tabbed messages and message logging were the most popular DeadAIM features
wincy 5y ago
I’m 35 and grew up on the Internet chatting on AIM and chat rooms as a teenager, and Discord feels very much like that. I like it a lot and vastly prefer it to text messaging or Facebook messenger.
- spike021 5y ago
  I miss AIM, honestly. Nothing quite matches it, these days.
  - nemosaltat 5y ago
    Same. I actually downloaded it in a VM and logged in one last time before the AIM servers went offline a couple years ago.
  - Nbox9 5y ago
    I think you are being nostalgic. The current generation of communication software (iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, Signal, Messenger, Hangout, Matrix, etc) trumps what was popular in the 90s/00s.
    - ethbr0 5y ago
      The nostalgia is partly for centralized reasons. It's undeniably convenient when everyone uses one thing (or ICQ).
      - mbg721 5y ago
        I too remember having all my friends on AIM, and my signature being about throwing real rocks at my sham-friends.
    - MereInterest 5y ago
      And every one of them needs a separate client, with a separate list of friends and handles, a separate program to check and monitor, ensuring that they are well-behaving. The current generation of software has no equivalent of Trillian or Pidgin, which could interact across any protocol. Heck, the current generation has no concept of "protocols" at all, instead treating the network communication as something entirely internal and subservient to the program running it.
      - 29083011397778 5y ago
movedx 5y ago
I'm actually really glad to hear that Discord is the popular platform among young adults. I run an educational/professional Discord server so this has me thinking I'm in the right place to help teach people about my industry. Thanks for the insights.
- howinteresting 5y ago
  Discord is really where all the kids are.
- int_19h 5y ago
  My biggest worry isn't that Discord (or whatever is next in that space) kills off other IM, but that it kills off email - i.e. the last truly widespread open and federated protocol for person-to-person communication.
bckr 5y ago
God you sound like a fun parent
takinola 5y ago
Can someone explain the appeal of Discord? It seems to be the same as Slack. In what way is it differentiated from existing messaging services?
- ajvs 5y ago
  It appeals to gaming communities rather than business ones through it's design and features. You don't have to sign up to instances separately - there's a single account you use to sign into any, and you can adjust your picture/nickname per instance. It's got great streaming and voice channel features. Because of all this, it's the #1 platform for gaming communities, and many other tech communities opt for it as well.
  - wyclif 5y ago
    There are some really vibrant programming language communities on Discord. The Python Discord always has very active servers, for instance: https://discord.com/channels/267624335836053506/267631170882240512 https://discord.com/channels/267624335836053506/267631170882...

fartcannon 5y ago

Its kind if funny that Apple Facetime and Facebook are the way my child speeks with his grandmother. He loves his grandma, but the tech will forever be old and lame as a result. The same will happen to Discord, too. Personally, I still think ICQ and IRC are the epitome of chat applications.

gogopuppygogo 5y ago
DeadAIM by JimADI was the epitome of chat for me... There was AIM+ as well... It seems like yesterday we NEEDED to hack a chat client to remove ads to make it usable... Kind of how we use adblocking on web browsers to make the web usable...
- btbuilder 5y ago
  While removing the ad was the first feature I think tabbed messages and message logging were the most popular DeadAIM features

wincy 5y ago

I’m 35 and grew up on the Internet chatting on AIM and chat rooms as a teenager, and Discord feels very much like that. I like it a lot and vastly prefer it to text messaging or Facebook messenger.

spike021 5y ago
I miss AIM, honestly. Nothing quite matches it, these days.
- nemosaltat 5y ago
  Same. I actually downloaded it in a VM and logged in one last time before the AIM servers went offline a couple years ago.
- Nbox9 5y ago
  I think you are being nostalgic. The current generation of communication software (iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, Signal, Messenger, Hangout, Matrix, etc) trumps what was popular in the 90s/00s.
  - ethbr0 5y ago
    The nostalgia is partly for centralized reasons. It's undeniably convenient when everyone uses one thing (or ICQ).
    - mbg721 5y ago
      I too remember having all my friends on AIM, and my signature being about throwing real rocks at my sham-friends.
  - MereInterest 5y ago
    And every one of them needs a separate client, with a separate list of friends and handles, a separate program to check and monitor, ensuring that they are well-behaving. The current generation of software has no equivalent of Trillian or Pidgin, which could interact across any protocol. Heck, the current generation has no concept of "protocols" at all, instead treating the network communication as something entirely internal and subservient to the program running it.
    - 29083011397778 5y ago

movedx 5y ago

I'm actually really glad to hear that Discord is the popular platform among young adults. I run an educational/professional Discord server so this has me thinking I'm in the right place to help teach people about my industry. Thanks for the insights.

howinteresting 5y ago
Discord is really where all the kids are.
int_19h 5y ago
My biggest worry isn't that Discord (or whatever is next in that space) kills off other IM, but that it kills off email - i.e. the last truly widespread open and federated protocol for person-to-person communication.

bckr 5y ago

God you sound like a fun parent

takinola 5y ago

Can someone explain the appeal of Discord? It seems to be the same as Slack. In what way is it differentiated from existing messaging services?

ajvs 5y ago
It appeals to gaming communities rather than business ones through it's design and features. You don't have to sign up to instances separately - there's a single account you use to sign into any, and you can adjust your picture/nickname per instance. It's got great streaming and voice channel features. Because of all this, it's the #1 platform for gaming communities, and many other tech communities opt for it as well.
- wyclif 5y ago
  There are some really vibrant programming language communities on Discord. The Python Discord always has very active servers, for instance: https://discord.com/channels/267624335836053506/267631170882240512 https://discord.com/channels/267624335836053506/267631170882...