4 ms·

> the green bubble shame set to end I'm betting the non-Apple bubbles will remain green... and remain a bit stigmatized. It was never about the resolution of

by jmull 3y ago

> the green bubble shame set to end I'm betting the non-Apple bubbles will remain green... and remain a bit stigmatized. It was never about the resolution of pictures and even technical limitations around group chat was just part of it. It's a social thing and the technical protocol is incidental. Dr. Seuss probably explained it best in The Sneetches.

hotnfresh 3y ago
> It was never about the resolution of pictures and even technical limitations around group chat was just part of it. It can be about both. It’s really nice to know when the images you sent are gonna be potato-quality and you need to find some other channel to send them, or that message reliability and capabilities in general are being limited to SMS (or RCS!) levels. I don’t give a shit about the social aspects, it’s valuable as a UI affordance.
sonicanatidae 3y ago
I love when people comment on the color of a text message. It makes it real easy to know who to block, because they worry about entirely the wrong things.
- Invictus0 3y ago
  There's no one to block, you just won't be included when the groupchat is setup. Big problem for teens.
  - ryandvm 3y ago
    I dunno. Sounds like being left out of those groups is a net positive.
    - rootusrootus 3y ago
      Yeah it kinda makes me want to get my kids Android phones.
  - toast0 3y ago
    Personally, I'm happy to be left out of those, groupchat via MMS is awful. But then I'm not a teen, and when I was a teen, I was happy to be left out of a lot of things too.
    - filoleg 3y ago
      > I'm happy to be left out of those, groupchat via MMS is awful So are most people who prefer iMessage over MMS (aka “green bubbles”), which is kind of the point.
  - sonicanatidae 3y ago
    That may be the difference. I'm far removed from my teenage years.
- jmull 3y ago
  If you socially exclude someone because they care about the color of text message bubbles, don't you care at least as much as they do? More, probably, because if they just mention it and you block them, that's disproportionate.
  - filoleg 3y ago
    > If you socially exclude someone because they care about the color of text message bubbles, don't you care at least as much as they do? The grandparent comment is talking about excluding people for wasting their time going on rants about message bubble colors, not about excluding those with a “wrong” message bubble color. And no, caring about not having to waste time on listening to someone who cares entirely too much about message bubble colors doesn’t mean that you care as much as they do about it.
  - hospitalJail 3y ago
    I hate racists and hating racists doesnt make me a bad person. I hate people who judge others based on $1000 dollar Veblen goods. Also I make more money than them, so I'm very aware that the person who cares about bubbles is being exploited by Apple's psychology and marketing department. So... maybe I don't hate them, maybe we should feel sorry for them. Or maybe we need to hate them because its a deterrent against corporations exploiting insecurities.
    - jmull 3y ago
      First, just an aside: you don't have to hate anyone. It doesn't make you a bad person to hate others, but you could be living better, that's for sure. The thing is, it usually mainly impacts the hater, making them unhappy and angry. But your analogy doesn't fit here... the issue with blue and green bubbles is the social pressure to have the "better" bubble color, to show you're part of the "better" group. That is, the negative social pressure comes from the threat of social exclusion via lower social standing. But the previous poster is also threatening social exclusion, but a more complete exclusion, and based on nearly the same thing. So it would be more like showing your objection to racism by expressing racist ideas or taking racist actions. Doesn't make sense, of course. That's my point.
0x0 3y ago
The moment you have a contact from any other country than your own, you'll quickly learn that green = huge carrier fees and blue = free texting that even works on wifi with data roaming off. Quadruply so for group chats.
nerdix 3y ago
Yes, there is no way they give up Green vs Blue. I'm sure they'll make up some excuse why it makes sense to keep the distinction. But the reality is that the Millennial and Gen Z bubble culture has been a big driver behind their market share increase in the US. And if Gen Alpha adopts the same culture (and doesn't rebel against norms created by prior generations like young people tend to do) then Apple will have a near monopoly in in the US in 15 years.
- hospitalJail 3y ago
  "Nah, green bubble is a point of pride. You didn't fall for Apple's marketing tricks, you are the edgy person who Thinks Different." This concept alone will make it so it never reaches 100%. Not to mention, Apple's security is so terrible, I imagine corporations are going to be banning iphones. Its never going to be a monopoly or a near monopoly. Apple's positioning is targeted to people who buy Veblen goods. As long as there is a market for phones that are high quality, Apple will never get a 'near' monopoly.
lbwtaylor 3y ago
>>It was never about the resolution of pictures and even technical limitations Sure, to some degree, but I'm not convinced all or most of the shame is only the iphone cachet -- the quality is incredibly bad, like shockingly bad. It's unusable, particularly for videos. As those things change, I can't help but feel like the shame moderates. But I don't have a teenager, so I don't have that perspective first hand.
- 8note 3y ago
  I could see apple still downscaling and compressing videos and pictures that don't come from apple devices
  - MBCook 3y ago
    They’re not doing it to be evil. They’re following the MMS standard that was designed for phones released in like 2004. That’s just the quality of pictures/video MMS carries.

by jmull 3y ago

hotnfresh 3y ago

> It was never about the resolution of pictures and even technical limitations around group chat was just part of it. It can be about both. It’s really nice to know when the images you sent are gonna be potato-quality and you need to find some other channel to send them, or that message reliability and capabilities in general are being limited to SMS (or RCS!) levels. I don’t give a shit about the social aspects, it’s valuable as a UI affordance.

sonicanatidae 3y ago

I love when people comment on the color of a text message. It makes it real easy to know who to block, because they worry about entirely the wrong things.

Invictus0 3y ago
There's no one to block, you just won't be included when the groupchat is setup. Big problem for teens.
- ryandvm 3y ago
  I dunno. Sounds like being left out of those groups is a net positive.
  - rootusrootus 3y ago
    Yeah it kinda makes me want to get my kids Android phones.
- toast0 3y ago
  Personally, I'm happy to be left out of those, groupchat via MMS is awful. But then I'm not a teen, and when I was a teen, I was happy to be left out of a lot of things too.
  - filoleg 3y ago
    > I'm happy to be left out of those, groupchat via MMS is awful So are most people who prefer iMessage over MMS (aka “green bubbles”), which is kind of the point.
- sonicanatidae 3y ago
  That may be the difference. I'm far removed from my teenage years.
jmull 3y ago
If you socially exclude someone because they care about the color of text message bubbles, don't you care at least as much as they do? More, probably, because if they just mention it and you block them, that's disproportionate.
- filoleg 3y ago
  > If you socially exclude someone because they care about the color of text message bubbles, don't you care at least as much as they do? The grandparent comment is talking about excluding people for wasting their time going on rants about message bubble colors, not about excluding those with a “wrong” message bubble color. And no, caring about not having to waste time on listening to someone who cares entirely too much about message bubble colors doesn’t mean that you care as much as they do about it.
- hospitalJail 3y ago
  I hate racists and hating racists doesnt make me a bad person. I hate people who judge others based on $1000 dollar Veblen goods. Also I make more money than them, so I'm very aware that the person who cares about bubbles is being exploited by Apple's psychology and marketing department. So... maybe I don't hate them, maybe we should feel sorry for them. Or maybe we need to hate them because its a deterrent against corporations exploiting insecurities.
  - jmull 3y ago
    First, just an aside: you don't have to hate anyone. It doesn't make you a bad person to hate others, but you could be living better, that's for sure. The thing is, it usually mainly impacts the hater, making them unhappy and angry. But your analogy doesn't fit here... the issue with blue and green bubbles is the social pressure to have the "better" bubble color, to show you're part of the "better" group. That is, the negative social pressure comes from the threat of social exclusion via lower social standing. But the previous poster is also threatening social exclusion, but a more complete exclusion, and based on nearly the same thing. So it would be more like showing your objection to racism by expressing racist ideas or taking racist actions. Doesn't make sense, of course. That's my point.

0x0 3y ago

The moment you have a contact from any other country than your own, you'll quickly learn that green = huge carrier fees and blue = free texting that even works on wifi with data roaming off. Quadruply so for group chats.

nerdix 3y ago

Yes, there is no way they give up Green vs Blue. I'm sure they'll make up some excuse why it makes sense to keep the distinction. But the reality is that the Millennial and Gen Z bubble culture has been a big driver behind their market share increase in the US. And if Gen Alpha adopts the same culture (and doesn't rebel against norms created by prior generations like young people tend to do) then Apple will have a near monopoly in in the US in 15 years.

hospitalJail 3y ago
"Nah, green bubble is a point of pride. You didn't fall for Apple's marketing tricks, you are the edgy person who Thinks Different." This concept alone will make it so it never reaches 100%. Not to mention, Apple's security is so terrible, I imagine corporations are going to be banning iphones. Its never going to be a monopoly or a near monopoly. Apple's positioning is targeted to people who buy Veblen goods. As long as there is a market for phones that are high quality, Apple will never get a 'near' monopoly.

lbwtaylor 3y ago

>>It was never about the resolution of pictures and even technical limitations Sure, to some degree, but I'm not convinced all or most of the shame is only the iphone cachet -- the quality is incredibly bad, like shockingly bad. It's unusable, particularly for videos. As those things change, I can't help but feel like the shame moderates. But I don't have a teenager, so I don't have that perspective first hand.

8note 3y ago
I could see apple still downscaling and compressing videos and pictures that don't come from apple devices
- MBCook 3y ago
  They’re not doing it to be evil. They’re following the MMS standard that was designed for phones released in like 2004. That’s just the quality of pictures/video MMS carries.