‘You’re Telling Me in 2023, You Still Have a ’Droid?’ Why Teens Hate Android Phones

Android@lemmy.world – 455 points – 11 months ago

‘You’re Telling Me in 2023, You Still Have a ’Droid?’ Why Teens Hate Android Phones

(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 😔

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Teens will feel like outcasts if they get an Android phone while their friends still use iMessage because of the green bubbles.

So I've heard this sentiment a lot, and at one point it certainly was true, but are teens still texting these days at all? I swear almost everyone moved to instant messaging over Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, etc.

Anecdote: The local high school I see nearly no one using the built in text messaging system. WhatsApp is the thing I see most often. Quite a few use Signal.

I have even heard once that, "You use iMessage to text your parents or your FBI agent."

So you may be on to something. But obvious YMMV in general.

Some of them at least known what's up and got the attitude to express it! Love it!

…what? In the US? Weird, every single person I’ve ever known in my 24 years of living in this country exclusively uses iMessage, unless they’re from another country ofc.

The article is obviously about US teens. In Europe it does indeed feel out of touch.

From these stats it seems 17% of US adults use iMessage. Also from Android Authority:

The key to understanding the green bubble phenomenon is found in a survey by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. The research highlights huge growth in recent US iPhone sales in the 18-24 age bracket. Gen Z iPhone adoption has jumped from 47% in 2018 to 74% in 2021 — meanwhile, ownership rose slightly from 34% to 40% in the same period for those over 24. Internal Apple research claims that iPhone users predominantly use iMessage (85% of users) and so iMessage’s US user base continues to grow. This is especially so in younger age groups — and with it, the pressure to keep using the same platform as their peers.

It's as I guessed: bullying people due to Apple's choice to segregate iMessage and not use open source standards.