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>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 thi

>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.