5 ms·

GenZ Android owners are bullied for not having an iPhone, but refuse to switch

36 points by heavyset_go 4y ago

y2hhcmxlcw 4y ago
Does this "criticism" or bullying or what not related to Androids exist among other age groups such as millennials? Or is it predominantly Gen Z?
- tekla 4y ago
  Millennial here. Yep, it happens. I just don't care. If a friend wont speak to you because you have the wrong phone, shitty friend.
  - smohare 4y ago
    [dead]
- Zetobal 4y ago
  Never happened.
- KyeRussell 4y ago
  Think, anyone young enough to be a trend-seeking kid when smartphones were around. So yes, this includes some millennials. iOS well and truly won the “culture war”. It’s just kids being kids. But I’m sure I won’t have to hold my breath long to see this shovelware ragebait article catch HN readers hook, line, and sinker. I can already see the paragraph-long comment about how Apple’s continued dominance represents the downfall of society. When in reality we may as well be talking about Team Edward vs Team Jacob, or Team Rue vs Team Jules, or whatever.
- 972811 4y ago
  yes, millennial here, it exists but is 99% tongue in cheek humor
Centigonal 4y ago
This feels similar to how I felt in school when everyone was getting the iPod, and I had a Sandisk Sansa. :)
- aksss 4y ago
  Yep, there was a lot to like about my CompactFlash MP3 player back in the day - solid state, ran on one AA battery (lithium for snowboarding in winter), backlit white on blue LCD, physical momentary switch for navigation on the side (no touch screen). Scarcely bigger than a zippo lighter. I was honestly more excited about that thing than I ever was about a walkman or discman, maybe because I was old enough to have actually used a walkman and discman. The iPod was awesome, but at same time first gen was a mechanical drive and the whole iTunes thing seemed a step backwards to someone using MediaMonkey to manage a large MP3 library.
- heavyset_go 4y ago
  Haha same, except I rocked a iRiver H340 with Rockbox.
- hammyhavoc 4y ago
  The difference is that it didn't stop you from interacting with them though. This kind of discrimination is akin to not even owning a cellphone if you are excluded. An iPod isn't a social life.
super256 4y ago
A bit OT, but I fell in love with Japanese android flip phones this week. Look at this wonderful Kyocera: https://imgur.com/a/qiZUHkm https://imgur.com/a/qiZUHkm // https://www.gsmchoice.com/en/catalogue/kyocera/dignoky42c/gallery/#1 https://www.gsmchoice.com/en/catalogue/kyocera/dignoky42c/ga... If such flip phones had decent hardware (being able to run a messenger and Spotify without lag) I would unironically switch from my iPhone. I miss typing with T9 :)
betaby 4y ago
US thing I suppose? Even wording is weird to me 'Gen Z accounts for 34 percent of iPhone users and just 10 percent of Samsung users, according to data reported by Financial Times.' Does that really mean 34% Iphone and 66% Android?
- olabyne 4y ago
  yeah it is a US issue. In Europe group chats are on Whatsap
- toast0 4y ago
  They're saying of iPhone users (in wherever?), 34% are GenZ; and of Samsung (phone?) users, 10% are GenZ. Without knowing the overall counts of iPhone/Samsung users, the number of GenZ iPhone and GenZ Samsung is also unknown and you can't make any comparison inferences. You can say that iPhone users are roughly three times as likely to be GenZ than Samsung users, I suppose.
- realusername 4y ago
  Yes, I'm in western europe and imessage is pretty much dead. Part of it is a lack of interropability with Android, part of it is that it's marketed as an SMS app and SMS being dead doesn't help.
gumby 4y ago
Seems like they probably went out of their way to make the "bully" case. Plenty of people in the US use android (I happen not to be one of them, but I know many of my friends are). This feels like the "repression" being claimed by certain political and religious groups, only less consequential.
jgalt212 4y ago
I live in a upper middle class US town, and I have yet to see a teen using anything other than an iPhone.
- hungryforcodes 4y ago
  As was mentioned above, this seems to be mostly a US problem. In other countries it's much more balanced towards Androids.
  - jgalt212 4y ago
    Yes, I was indicating that what I have seen was in line with article's assertions.
wkat4242 4y ago
That's really just a US phenomenon.. Here in Spain most teens carry Androids. And most people overall in fact.
matthew28845 4y ago
From personal experience this is mostly due to iMessage chats. Imagine for example that all of your friends have iPhones except one or two. From your perspective, they're the reason you can't have an iMessage chat with all the fancy features. Sure, you could use another messaging app, but why couldn't they just buy the phone that always works? This perspective doesn't make sense to me, but it's how a majority of people think.
- orbisvicis 4y ago
  Not having an iphone is a good way to get out of conversations with people you don't want to converse with.
  - matthew28845 4y ago
    Case in point, anyone who loses a date by not having an iPhone is dodging a bullet.
    - auxfil 4y ago
      Haha, yeah, ok buddy.
      - DangitBobby 4y ago
        If phone preference is an actionable signal of eligibility to them, it probably wasn't gonna work out.
      - howinteresting 4y ago
        Having or being willing to make a Signal account (which makes the phone irrelevant) is an actually pretty great quality filter for dates in my experience.
        throwaway81523 4y ago
        I once got a date by telling the person I had ten laptop computers and no Facebook account.
abdulstevenson 4y ago
[flagged]
- ilrwbwrkhv 4y ago
  Being an American is about individuality
- postalrat 4y ago
  > helpful negging from your peers Lol, ok
- UncleEntity 4y ago
  Exactly. Then you have to stay on the cool side of the upgrade treadmill because a two year old iPhone is, like, totally unacceptable. …and we need to have a talk about this pleather Levi jacket you insist on wearing because reasons.
throwaway128128 4y ago
I was bulled in the mid 90's for having a Mac.
daviddever23box 4y ago
I wouldn't trust a drug dealer with an Android phone.
beAbU 4y ago
Services like WhatsApp and Telegram have all but erased this phenomenom in the rest of the world. My friends and I have been WhatsApping up a storm even before the first iPhone became available in my country. This was pre-android, believe it or not, WhatsApp used to host JARs you could download for your Symbian dumb phone. Before WhatsApp we used a service called MxIT. For me and most of my peers, non-SMS mobile chat dates back as far as early 2000s. For all my teenage and adult life, I've never once sent or received an SMS in a social context. My SMS inbox is 100٪ banking transaction alerts, OTPs and spam.
- TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
  Oh yes, I remember ICQ, Qip and Trillian. SMS were expensive like hell and used only during emergency.
noisycarlos 4y ago
Once I texted a Tinder date from my Pixel and she goes... "Oh, you're a green bubble". I've never felt discriminated by the color of my skin, just by the color of my text bubble!

36 points by heavyset_go 4y ago

Does this "criticism" or bullying or what not related to Androids exist among other age groups such as millennials? Or is it predominantly Gen Z?

tekla 4y ago
Millennial here. Yep, it happens. I just don't care. If a friend wont speak to you because you have the wrong phone, shitty friend.
- smohare 4y ago
  [dead]
Zetobal 4y ago
Never happened.
KyeRussell 4y ago
Think, anyone young enough to be a trend-seeking kid when smartphones were around. So yes, this includes some millennials. iOS well and truly won the “culture war”. It’s just kids being kids. But I’m sure I won’t have to hold my breath long to see this shovelware ragebait article catch HN readers hook, line, and sinker. I can already see the paragraph-long comment about how Apple’s continued dominance represents the downfall of society. When in reality we may as well be talking about Team Edward vs Team Jacob, or Team Rue vs Team Jules, or whatever.
972811 4y ago
yes, millennial here, it exists but is 99% tongue in cheek humor

Centigonal 4y ago

This feels similar to how I felt in school when everyone was getting the iPod, and I had a Sandisk Sansa. :)

aksss 4y ago
Yep, there was a lot to like about my CompactFlash MP3 player back in the day - solid state, ran on one AA battery (lithium for snowboarding in winter), backlit white on blue LCD, physical momentary switch for navigation on the side (no touch screen). Scarcely bigger than a zippo lighter. I was honestly more excited about that thing than I ever was about a walkman or discman, maybe because I was old enough to have actually used a walkman and discman. The iPod was awesome, but at same time first gen was a mechanical drive and the whole iTunes thing seemed a step backwards to someone using MediaMonkey to manage a large MP3 library.
heavyset_go 4y ago
Haha same, except I rocked a iRiver H340 with Rockbox.
hammyhavoc 4y ago
The difference is that it didn't stop you from interacting with them though. This kind of discrimination is akin to not even owning a cellphone if you are excluded. An iPod isn't a social life.

super256 4y ago

A bit OT, but I fell in love with Japanese android flip phones this week. Look at this wonderful Kyocera: https://imgur.com/a/qiZUHkm https://imgur.com/a/qiZUHkm // https://www.gsmchoice.com/en/catalogue/kyocera/dignoky42c/gallery/#1 https://www.gsmchoice.com/en/catalogue/kyocera/dignoky42c/ga... If such flip phones had decent hardware (being able to run a messenger and Spotify without lag) I would unironically switch from my iPhone. I miss typing with T9 :)

betaby 4y ago

US thing I suppose? Even wording is weird to me 'Gen Z accounts for 34 percent of iPhone users and just 10 percent of Samsung users, according to data reported by Financial Times.' Does that really mean 34% Iphone and 66% Android?

olabyne 4y ago
yeah it is a US issue. In Europe group chats are on Whatsap
toast0 4y ago
They're saying of iPhone users (in wherever?), 34% are GenZ; and of Samsung (phone?) users, 10% are GenZ. Without knowing the overall counts of iPhone/Samsung users, the number of GenZ iPhone and GenZ Samsung is also unknown and you can't make any comparison inferences. You can say that iPhone users are roughly three times as likely to be GenZ than Samsung users, I suppose.
realusername 4y ago
Yes, I'm in western europe and imessage is pretty much dead. Part of it is a lack of interropability with Android, part of it is that it's marketed as an SMS app and SMS being dead doesn't help.

gumby 4y ago

Seems like they probably went out of their way to make the "bully" case. Plenty of people in the US use android (I happen not to be one of them, but I know many of my friends are). This feels like the "repression" being claimed by certain political and religious groups, only less consequential.

jgalt212 4y ago

I live in a upper middle class US town, and I have yet to see a teen using anything other than an iPhone.

hungryforcodes 4y ago
As was mentioned above, this seems to be mostly a US problem. In other countries it's much more balanced towards Androids.
- jgalt212 4y ago
  Yes, I was indicating that what I have seen was in line with article's assertions.

wkat4242 4y ago

That's really just a US phenomenon.. Here in Spain most teens carry Androids. And most people overall in fact.

matthew28845 4y ago

From personal experience this is mostly due to iMessage chats. Imagine for example that all of your friends have iPhones except one or two. From your perspective, they're the reason you can't have an iMessage chat with all the fancy features. Sure, you could use another messaging app, but why couldn't they just buy the phone that always works? This perspective doesn't make sense to me, but it's how a majority of people think.

orbisvicis 4y ago
Not having an iphone is a good way to get out of conversations with people you don't want to converse with.
- matthew28845 4y ago
  Case in point, anyone who loses a date by not having an iPhone is dodging a bullet.
  - auxfil 4y ago
    Haha, yeah, ok buddy.
    - DangitBobby 4y ago
      If phone preference is an actionable signal of eligibility to them, it probably wasn't gonna work out.
    - howinteresting 4y ago
      Having or being willing to make a Signal account (which makes the phone irrelevant) is an actually pretty great quality filter for dates in my experience.
      - throwaway81523 4y ago
        I once got a date by telling the person I had ten laptop computers and no Facebook account.

abdulstevenson 4y ago

[flagged]

ilrwbwrkhv 4y ago
Being an American is about individuality
postalrat 4y ago
> helpful negging from your peers Lol, ok
UncleEntity 4y ago
Exactly. Then you have to stay on the cool side of the upgrade treadmill because a two year old iPhone is, like, totally unacceptable. …and we need to have a talk about this pleather Levi jacket you insist on wearing because reasons.

throwaway128128 4y ago

I was bulled in the mid 90's for having a Mac.

daviddever23box 4y ago

I wouldn't trust a drug dealer with an Android phone.

beAbU 4y ago

Services like WhatsApp and Telegram have all but erased this phenomenom in the rest of the world. My friends and I have been WhatsApping up a storm even before the first iPhone became available in my country. This was pre-android, believe it or not, WhatsApp used to host JARs you could download for your Symbian dumb phone. Before WhatsApp we used a service called MxIT. For me and most of my peers, non-SMS mobile chat dates back as far as early 2000s. For all my teenage and adult life, I've never once sent or received an SMS in a social context. My SMS inbox is 100٪ banking transaction alerts, OTPs and spam.

TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
Oh yes, I remember ICQ, Qip and Trillian. SMS were expensive like hell and used only during emergency.

noisycarlos 4y ago

Once I texted a Tinder date from my Pixel and she goes... "Oh, you're a green bubble". I've never felt discriminated by the color of my skin, just by the color of my text bubble!