> have concluded that they aren’t helpful or interesting to them as a concept
Yeah they aren't. This site has a little bit of technical value and debate. Any of the big social networks are full of idiots that I'd rather not deal with
Ask HN: 90s kids happily less connected?
11–20 of 58 posts
Re: Ask HN: 90s kids happily less connected?
#12Im 36, I guess so? I don’t use “social media” at all anymore, but I use Discord a lot. It reminds me of the good ol’ days of AOL and IRC, and I prefer chat rooms over posting into the void. I find Twitter and such intolerable because it mostly started to feel like I was just a mark for random grifts. At some point around ~2016 everything seemed to turn into a link for Patreon or a podcast or blah blah
> I don’t use “social media” at all anymore Posted on HN, QED.
This kind of pedantry is exactly what keeps me coming back for more!
Re: Ask HN: 90s kids happily less connected?
#13I'm not observing this at all. Most of my Millennial family and friends are on Instagram, regularly posting Stories about their family or travel. Many 30-year-olds+ are as hooked on short-form content (TikTok, YouTube shorts, Reels etc.) as the younger generation, but the latter are more likely to contribute rather than passively consume. Messenger apps are very popular, with WhatsApp still being the number one choic…
The only thing I would add is that I find the only people using whatsapp are grandparents talking to children, not groups with any level of tech savvy...
What country? It's the defacto form of communication in many countries.
Re: Ask HN: 90s kids happily less connected?
#14I think it is somewhat platform dependent. I don’t know anyone that uses Facebook except for the weird kids I went to high school with or senior citizens. People my age (20s-30s) will occasionally post major life event photos, ie wedding, baby, etc.
Instagram still seems wildly popular especially among women. My wife is definitely addicted.
YouTube will probably have the most longevity because of the breadth of topics on the platform. I can use youtube for anything tutorial/learning related, hobby related content, and also occasionally dive down a random rabbit hole.
Re: Ask HN: 90s kids happily less connected?
#15I dont really know but Im curious how the generational waves of tech usage/adoption go.
I had kept expressing a hope that youthful observation & youthful rebellion again parents would someday mean kids seeing their parents vacuous screen addictions & pick to do something else for themselves.
My hope wained for a while, but Im starting to think other factors are helping. The sense of emergence as tech developed has all worn off- tech is all the same prepackaged shit, lacking in the niches and exploration it used to have. And it's apparent none of it has our interests at heart (or wont, after the next buy out).
To be clear, I think there are lots of really interesting & open frontiers of tech, but here we are in almost 2023 and we're only kust making oue way out of Walled Gardens/Neomainframes, and it s unclear that we will have a revival of a more personal computing or not, given the complexity & difficulty of connected/online tech. We need paths forwards (and I dont think retropunk nor simple static will have much real enticement, will have sufficient allure).
Re: Ask HN: 90s kids happily less connected?
#16[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: 90s kids happily less connected?
#17This is defiantly true in my case.
Re: Ask HN: 90s kids happily less connected?
#18This may be less about being a 90’s kid and more about getting older and having less time for nonsense.
Re: Ask HN: 90s kids happily less connected?
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I don’t use “social media” at all anymore Posted on HN, QED.
I've also quit all social media besides HN. At least I can try and tell myself that HN is more stimulating intellectually, it's my one dirty little digital habit I have left
HN is just a last crutch for me after leaving reddit at this point. I prefer it because upvotes and downvotes are anonymous except for your own when it comes to comments, so there isn’t as much of a dopamine hit after posting when you really think about it.
Re: Ask HN: 90s kids happily less connected?
#20I just doubt this is true. I like to say and think I have no social media yet here I am.
I also spend quite a bit of time watching youtube videos and looking at youtube comments.