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Ask HN: How many lives have been negatively affected by WhatsApp going down?
41–50 of 52 posts
Re: Ask HN: How many lives have been negatively affected by WhatsApp going down?
#42Some number less than their active user count? Ask a leading question; get a flippant answer. I’d find the cries for empathy to the poor affected users more compelling if it weren’t for the fact that anyone of working age can remember a time when these technologies didn’t exist. If it’s a tragedy that you didn’t have access to a novel technology for six hours, then I’d question the health of your relationship to it,…
It was a serious question. I didn't realize so many people relied on WhatsApp for communication outside the US.
I also find your argument specious, because you can continue that train of logic with any modern technology.
I don't think communication is comparable to food and water, but I wouldn't say it's a negligible impact on a person, especially since we don't know the circumstances of what happened during those six hours and how many services rely on it outside of Western nations. And by the looks of it, a few million people rely on it.
Facebook going down is a minor inconvenience. Facebook Chat and WhatsApp going down are a bit more serious.
Re: Ask HN: How many lives have been negatively affected by WhatsApp going down?
#43Some number less than their active user count? Ask a leading question; get a flippant answer. I’d find the cries for empathy to the poor affected users more compelling if it weren’t for the fact that anyone of working age can remember a time when these technologies didn’t exist. If it’s a tragedy that you didn’t have access to a novel technology for six hours, then I’d question the health of your relationship to it,…
Wow! Snarky much? Do you have any experience living in a country outside a "first world" country? Do you have any understanding how these "novel" technologies can be the backbone of people's business, livelihoods or even emergency services? Sounds like you are in a comfortable bubble.
No I do not. And I’m sorry that the incumbent monopolist in third world countries is such a shit show that anyone has to suffer for their incompetence. Doesn’t change the reality that Facebook is the only game in town in the developing world because they worked very hard to make it that way.
Tell you what: I’ll be more empathetic to victims of the great Facebook outage of 2021 if you can be more empathetic to the mother I lost to covid after refusing to get vaccinated on account of memes she saw on Facebook. Deal?
Re: Ask HN: How many lives have been negatively affected by WhatsApp going down?
#44Some number less than their active user count? Ask a leading question; get a flippant answer. I’d find the cries for empathy to the poor affected users more compelling if it weren’t for the fact that anyone of working age can remember a time when these technologies didn’t exist. If it’s a tragedy that you didn’t have access to a novel technology for six hours, then I’d question the health of your relationship to it,…
It was a serious question. I didn't realize so many people relied on WhatsApp for communication outside the US. I also find your argument specious, because you can continue that train of logic with any modern technology. I don't think communication is comparable to food and water, but I wouldn't say it's a negligible impact on a person, especially since we don't know the circumstances of what happened during those si…
Indeed. What are the trade offs of technology? Is it actually making our lives better? Are our lives richer for having brought Mark Zuckerberg into them? Perhaps if we had thought to ask those questions ahead of time we wouldn’t be living through a fourth corona virus wave fueled by antivax misinformation, and perhaps people wouldn’t be feeling deep personal injury at being unable to talk to someone for six hours.
Re: Ask HN: How many lives have been negatively affected by WhatsApp going down?
#45Some number less than their active user count? Ask a leading question; get a flippant answer. I’d find the cries for empathy to the poor affected users more compelling if it weren’t for the fact that anyone of working age can remember a time when these technologies didn’t exist. If it’s a tragedy that you didn’t have access to a novel technology for six hours, then I’d question the health of your relationship to it,…
I can remember a time when the internet wasn't widely available, and I'm not that old. Are you saying that everyone should just go back to how things were done in 1990, and the only impact would be the fault of the people using it?
Re: Ask HN: How many lives have been negatively affected by WhatsApp going down?
#46Some number less than their active user count? Ask a leading question; get a flippant answer. I’d find the cries for empathy to the poor affected users more compelling if it weren’t for the fact that anyone of working age can remember a time when these technologies didn’t exist. If it’s a tragedy that you didn’t have access to a novel technology for six hours, then I’d question the health of your relationship to it,…
I can remember a time when the internet wasn't widely available, and I'm not that old. Are you saying that everyone should just go back to how things were done in 1990, and the only impact would be the fault of the people using it?
I’m saying that anyone that thinks that progress is a given and that we are inherently better off for having the social web may not be giving sufficient considerations to the trade offs we have incurred. On the other hand I’m typing in anger, so I might just be an asshole.
Re: Ask HN: How many lives have been negatively affected by WhatsApp going down?
#47My first world problems were greatly exacerbated by Whatsapp being down.
I could not communicate with my in-laws via WhatsApp which meant I actually had to speak to them in person.
Re: Ask HN: How many lives have been negatively affected by WhatsApp going down?
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
People dying of COVID are usually heavily sedated with a tube down their tracheae. They don’t have last words, they either get better or die.
Assuming you have never faced the above situation (and I pray you don't). It goes something like this: 1. on call nurse txts "its time" 2. you confirm that he/she will initiate a call in 20 mins over whatsapp/viber/messenger 3. The nurse holds up the ipad over your loved one's face 4.
That's heartbreaking
Re: Ask HN: How many lives have been negatively affected by WhatsApp going down?
#49Re: Ask HN: How many lives have been negatively affected by WhatsApp going down?
#50If your life gets negatively affected by whatsapp being unavailable, order a new life instead. At least install Signal, Telegram et al and wean everyone else out of fb-wa.
You really were unable to come up with a single example of how this outage could have impacted people’s lives in drastic ways? I invite you to see life through other people’s eyes every once in a while. I promise it’ll be worth it.
Doesn't matter in this case. If you use fb's platform in any way, deal with it - especially if that's the only straw in use.
People really should have other means and platforms to use and gravitate toward them. There is no good reason to prefer fb for anything.