A recent survey of teens found that 87% have iPhones, and don’t plan to switch. They have their reasons.

(unpaywalled version on archive.today: https://archive.ph/03cwZ)

Interesting figure that comes out of the article: 87% of US teens prefer iPhones. Also the explanations given aren’t quite surprising, I guess it’s mostly because of iMessage. Teens will feel like outcasts if they get an Android phone while their friends still use iMessage because of the green bubbles.

It’s actually hilarious how we allowed consumerism to take us this far and that we have now peer pressure over smartphones.

“You’re telling me in 2023, you still have a ’Droid? […] You gotta be at least 50 years old.”

ouch 😔

  • @[email protected]English
    18•1 year ago

    Nah. That’s North America. iPhones in North America have become a status symbol, you have to be available on iMessage, otherwise they’ll contact you by SMS. I know a lot of people in Canada who have no other messaging app (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, etc.). They only communicate via iMessage.

    • @[email protected]English
      -8•1 year ago

      Unless you care about privacy (signal), why even have a second messaging app? I have the phone to make calls and send texts. The default shit works well on iphone and android.

      • @[email protected]English
        15•1 year ago

        It’s called the network effect. The rest of the world (except China) uses WhatsApp so if you want to communicate with them you use whatever they use.

      • @[email protected]English
        6•1 year ago

        Just off the top of my head…

        • High-quality media (SMS/MMS has low size limits)
        • No cost for international messaging
        • Works on WiFi without cell reception
        • Delivery notifications let you know the message wasn’t lost; read notifications are also an option, but some people turn them off for privacy
        • Many have desktop clients so you can type on a real keyboard when you’re at a computer (there are sync solutions for SMS with additional software)
        • If you care about mass surveillance (I think you should), several chat apps use strong cryptography
      • @[email protected]English
        5•1 year ago

        Because SMS is unreliable. On several occasions, SMS messages have either been delayed by hours or simply never reached their destination. Mind you, that’s my experience here in Canada.

      • @[email protected]English
        1•1 year ago

        My family uses Whatsapp and my work uses GroupMe. If we just text, things get lis5t or come in oit of order.