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It's interesting that for this journalist the group chat is always an extension and in some way connected to her "real" life. There is not really a mention as

It's interesting that for this journalist the group chat is always an extension and in some way connected to her "real" life. There is not really a mention as to how I, and I believe many other, really use group chats. Yeah. Of course I have a couple group chats with people I know... But these do not compare to the ones that I'm in that have been formed entirely online. The dynamics might be similar but in my experience online (born) groups tend to be much more chaotic and there's a drift of members coming in an out that's quite interesting. For many that I've met they might chat everyday with the people in the group to simply disappear one day and never come back, or perhaps come back a year or two later (if the group is still alive). I think it stems from the fact that for the journalist "group chats" are linked to apple's technology "iMessage". But for me, when I think of group chats I think of discord servers, IRC channels, etc. I mean, Ive been using group chats for years before the smartphone came, and the experience I had back then is pretty much identical to the one I have today. I was the kind of kid that was in front of the computer all day anyway.

mholm 3y ago
The 'solely online' group chat really doesn't seem to be the norm for all but a very specific demographic. It's also very different from what is being discussed in the article.
- HaZeust 3y ago
  The demographic is 15-25, by the way. It's not unusual for younger crowds to find themselves in sole-online groups - there's a lot more elasticity and cultural acceptance for that kind of behavior in those groups.
  - pavel_lishin 3y ago
    I'm not saying that there isn't a 15-25 demographic that follows this, but I'm also in quite a few only-met-online groups, and I'm entering middle-age. (And, of course, so are most of the other folks in the online-only groups I'm in.)
Zenul_Abidin 3y ago
Most Americans are only ever using iMessage so I guess that's what "group chats" means in this context.
- beeboobaa 3y ago
  [flagged]
internet101010 3y ago
>I think it stems from the fact that for the journalist "group chats" are linked to apple's technology "iMessage". But for me, when I think of group chats I think of discord servers, IRC channels, etc. I mean, Ive been using group chats for years before the smartphone came, and the experience I had back then is pretty much identical to the one I have today. I was the kind of kid that was in front of the computer all day anyway. Same. My groupchats are small Discord servers with like 10-15 people. No blue/green text nonsense, don't have to deal with anything related to Meta, and notifications are easily customizable.
- lxgr 3y ago
  But also everything feels "on-the-record" in a way that WhatsApp, Signal etc. don't, both in that new joiners don't get to see the previous group chat history (a bug in some scenarios, a feature in others!) and that it's not end-to-end encrypted. I have definitely observed myself communicating more freely there. In a way, it's "anti-social media", in that it solves one of the biggest (in my view) bugs of Twitter, Facebook etc.: Nobody will pin you down with a direct link to a post about an idea you entertained years ago that you've long since distanced yourself from. Ephemeral communications to me seem like an antidote to the incredible and unprecedented pressure of having to appear 100% consistent across time and social circles.
rootusrootus 3y ago
> I was the kind of kid that was in front of the computer all day anyway. The author of the article actually calls that out specifically, and then points out she isn't talking about that older phenomenon, but how the advent of smartphones brought this sort of group chatter into our existence no matter where we are at any given time. To people who weren't used to spending all their waking hours in front of a screen already. From the article: > This kind of communication has been technologically possible for decades now, but for much of my lifetime it had to occur in fixed locations (in front of computers) at fixed times (when you were all online; this was back when the idea of being “online” or “offline” still had meaning). Then smartphones smashed that distinction.
ar_lan 3y ago
I don't think this demographic is as common as you'd expect - it feels very niche and internet-culture-y. That said, I've always been amazed at some of these groups I've been a part of. There is a long-lasting group of game developers I was a part of when I was very, very young. Somehow, someway, the site has stayed alive, and I have logged in probably once a year to say hi to old friends. I've never met them in person. We exchange emails maybe... at a half-year, year, or even longer basis. But we always respond to each other eventually. And we've managed to somehow maintain contact in this super strange way. It's really incredible.

mholm 3y ago

The 'solely online' group chat really doesn't seem to be the norm for all but a very specific demographic. It's also very different from what is being discussed in the article.

HaZeust 3y ago
The demographic is 15-25, by the way. It's not unusual for younger crowds to find themselves in sole-online groups - there's a lot more elasticity and cultural acceptance for that kind of behavior in those groups.
- pavel_lishin 3y ago
  I'm not saying that there isn't a 15-25 demographic that follows this, but I'm also in quite a few only-met-online groups, and I'm entering middle-age. (And, of course, so are most of the other folks in the online-only groups I'm in.)

Zenul_Abidin 3y ago

Most Americans are only ever using iMessage so I guess that's what "group chats" means in this context.

beeboobaa 3y ago
[flagged]

internet101010 3y ago

>I think it stems from the fact that for the journalist "group chats" are linked to apple's technology "iMessage". But for me, when I think of group chats I think of discord servers, IRC channels, etc. I mean, Ive been using group chats for years before the smartphone came, and the experience I had back then is pretty much identical to the one I have today. I was the kind of kid that was in front of the computer all day anyway. Same. My groupchats are small Discord servers with like 10-15 people. No blue/green text nonsense, don't have to deal with anything related to Meta, and notifications are easily customizable.

lxgr 3y ago
But also everything feels "on-the-record" in a way that WhatsApp, Signal etc. don't, both in that new joiners don't get to see the previous group chat history (a bug in some scenarios, a feature in others!) and that it's not end-to-end encrypted. I have definitely observed myself communicating more freely there. In a way, it's "anti-social media", in that it solves one of the biggest (in my view) bugs of Twitter, Facebook etc.: Nobody will pin you down with a direct link to a post about an idea you entertained years ago that you've long since distanced yourself from. Ephemeral communications to me seem like an antidote to the incredible and unprecedented pressure of having to appear 100% consistent across time and social circles.

rootusrootus 3y ago

> I was the kind of kid that was in front of the computer all day anyway. The author of the article actually calls that out specifically, and then points out she isn't talking about that older phenomenon, but how the advent of smartphones brought this sort of group chatter into our existence no matter where we are at any given time. To people who weren't used to spending all their waking hours in front of a screen already. From the article: > This kind of communication has been technologically possible for decades now, but for much of my lifetime it had to occur in fixed locations (in front of computers) at fixed times (when you were all online; this was back when the idea of being “online” or “offline” still had meaning). Then smartphones smashed that distinction.

ar_lan 3y ago

I don't think this demographic is as common as you'd expect - it feels very niche and internet-culture-y. That said, I've always been amazed at some of these groups I've been a part of. There is a long-lasting group of game developers I was a part of when I was very, very young. Somehow, someway, the site has stayed alive, and I have logged in probably once a year to say hi to old friends. I've never met them in person. We exchange emails maybe... at a half-year, year, or even longer basis. But we always respond to each other eventually. And we've managed to somehow maintain contact in this super strange way. It's really incredible.