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Do you have data on that, or are you just asserting that your personal experience is more universal than their personal experience? I don't think they're total

Do you have data on that, or are you just asserting that your personal experience is more universal than their personal experience? I don't think they're totally off-base: I haven't used my phone contact list for personal contacts for most of the last decade. It's just a collection of work contacts that I don't trust enough to add anywhere I actually talk to people.

jack_pp 5y ago
I'm sorry but do you need data for common sense? Is WhatsApp one of the biggest messaging platforms where people don't talk to their close friends and family? You think discord or other mediums are more popular than iMessage and WhatsApp?
- Talanes 5y ago
  I mean, I guess I do? I'm legitimately unsure if I'm in some weird bubble where no one uses WhatsApp or you're in a bubble of unusually high usage. But it's been a small enough part of my life that I'm not even fully sure what the connection is. It uses your contact list as well?
  - throwawayben 5y ago
    I assume you're in the US? As I understand it, it's less popular there. I'd say at least 95% of smart phone users in the UK use WhatsApp. I think that's probably true of the rest of Europe as well.
  - Vinnl 5y ago
    Supposedly two billion users as of Feb 2020: https://web.archive.org/web/20200212142339/https://blog.whatsapp.com/10000666/Two-Billion-Users--Connecting-the-World-Privately https://web.archive.org/web/20200212142339/https://blog.what...
  - fragmede 5y ago
    In today's individualized, algorithmic online world, it's safer to assume you're in a weird bubble until proven otherwise. My Twitter/Facebook/whatever feed is totally different than yours. Everyone still has a Facebook account (though; noticeable dip in Q1) and Snapchat is still wildly popular.
- recursive 5y ago
  Is any of this stuff more popular than actually calling people? How are people calling? Memorize phone numbers? I'm completely stumped about how someone could use a cellphone for a decade without using a contact list.
  - charcircuit 5y ago
    I don't even have my friends' phone numbers. If I want to call a friend I do it on my desktop using Discord. Before like 2016 we would call using Skype instead.
    - recursive 5y ago
      It's been a while since I had a friend I was regularly communicating with, so I have no idea how normal this is. But it is totally foreign to me.
      - Talanes 5y ago
        I'm turning 32 this year, and I've honestly never used phone calls as a way to talk with my friends (outside the quick calls that texting replaced.) When I changed my phone number a few years back I told like 5 people, all family. We had AIM and message boards pretty early, but no dedicated phone lines. By the time cell-phones became ubiquitous, we had cars and could just actually hang out. And by the time we all moved apart, voice chat services were good enough to just hop back to the old chat model.
    - frabcus 5y ago
      This is fascinating. I feel like an anthropologist so have lots of questions. Do you have multiple Discord servers or just one for all your friends? Roughly how old are you and are you a student or in a job or something else? What country or region? When you meet a new person you want to stay in contact with, how do you do so? Do you use only Discord with friends or do you also add them on eg Facebook or Email or any other communication system? In my world (employed, UK, middle aged) at work generally we use Slack (kinda like you’re using Discord in a way), shifting to phone numbers when you know people well for non work stuff. Everyone else I meet, the assumption is to exchange phone number and use WhatsApp - exceptions would be iMessage or Signal sometimes. Or email or Twitter in business circumstances.

jack_pp 5y ago

I'm sorry but do you need data for common sense? Is WhatsApp one of the biggest messaging platforms where people don't talk to their close friends and family? You think discord or other mediums are more popular than iMessage and WhatsApp?

Talanes 5y ago
I mean, I guess I do? I'm legitimately unsure if I'm in some weird bubble where no one uses WhatsApp or you're in a bubble of unusually high usage. But it's been a small enough part of my life that I'm not even fully sure what the connection is. It uses your contact list as well?
- throwawayben 5y ago
  I assume you're in the US? As I understand it, it's less popular there. I'd say at least 95% of smart phone users in the UK use WhatsApp. I think that's probably true of the rest of Europe as well.
- Vinnl 5y ago
  Supposedly two billion users as of Feb 2020: https://web.archive.org/web/20200212142339/https://blog.whatsapp.com/10000666/Two-Billion-Users--Connecting-the-World-Privately https://web.archive.org/web/20200212142339/https://blog.what...
- fragmede 5y ago
  In today's individualized, algorithmic online world, it's safer to assume you're in a weird bubble until proven otherwise. My Twitter/Facebook/whatever feed is totally different than yours. Everyone still has a Facebook account (though; noticeable dip in Q1) and Snapchat is still wildly popular.
recursive 5y ago
Is any of this stuff more popular than actually calling people? How are people calling? Memorize phone numbers? I'm completely stumped about how someone could use a cellphone for a decade without using a contact list.
- charcircuit 5y ago
  I don't even have my friends' phone numbers. If I want to call a friend I do it on my desktop using Discord. Before like 2016 we would call using Skype instead.
  - recursive 5y ago
    It's been a while since I had a friend I was regularly communicating with, so I have no idea how normal this is. But it is totally foreign to me.
    - Talanes 5y ago
      I'm turning 32 this year, and I've honestly never used phone calls as a way to talk with my friends (outside the quick calls that texting replaced.) When I changed my phone number a few years back I told like 5 people, all family. We had AIM and message boards pretty early, but no dedicated phone lines. By the time cell-phones became ubiquitous, we had cars and could just actually hang out. And by the time we all moved apart, voice chat services were good enough to just hop back to the old chat model.
  - frabcus 5y ago
    This is fascinating. I feel like an anthropologist so have lots of questions. Do you have multiple Discord servers or just one for all your friends? Roughly how old are you and are you a student or in a job or something else? What country or region? When you meet a new person you want to stay in contact with, how do you do so? Do you use only Discord with friends or do you also add them on eg Facebook or Email or any other communication system? In my world (employed, UK, middle aged) at work generally we use Slack (kinda like you’re using Discord in a way), shifting to phone numbers when you know people well for non work stuff. Everyone else I meet, the assumption is to exchange phone number and use WhatsApp - exceptions would be iMessage or Signal sometimes. Or email or Twitter in business circumstances.