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I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric

blog.danpetrolito.xyz

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Re: I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric

#141

Post by OkayPhysicist »

billdybas wrote: post #125

> The hardest part was convincing people to download the Discord app on their phone as most of us didn't have it downloaded. This was surprising to me – is this typical of most Discord users (primarily desktop users over mobile)?

Discord was originally a place to organize for playing videogames with people. If you're using it for that purpose, you're probably on your computer already (because that's where the games are). Thus, the mobile app ends up being more for checking in with your community while away from the computer, rather than a primary driver of your engagement with the platform.

Re: I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric

#142

Post by 98codes »

nemomarx wrote: post #72
101008 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something I've always wanted to write about, and I imagine that someday I'll end up with a long article, but basically, it's the idea that the internet used to be offline by default, and now it's online by default. People used to be offline by default. You had to “connect to the internet.” Open MSN, go into forums and check the latest unread messages, come back from a concert and manually upload the photos to…

The Internet used to be semi literally a place you went - a desktop in the corner of some room, not central on a desk, not in your pocket. And with a ritual to access it on top of that and the dial up sounds and all. It's more present but also more invisible now, yeah.

It's funny -- before social media, I was more likely able to go find someone to chat with on IRC, a Usenet group, or some purpose-built forum. I knew where my friends were (ICQ, then AIM, then Skype, then GChat), and it worked.

Now, it's all fragmented into 1000 Discord servers, and who has the time to dig through it all?

Re: I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric

#143

Post by kadhirvelm »

Wow so cool, I feel like if I had a light near by desk that turned on every time a friend was on discord voice, I'd be so much more likely to hop in for a few minutes over getting an notification. Something about the physical affordance feels harder to ignore

Re: I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric

#144

Post by xp84 »

reg_dunlop wrote: post #103
RugnirViking wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

honestly ive been thinking about this stuff too. a hypothetical forum you could only log on to read if you idled on a certain page for 15 mins or something would probably have a lot higher standard of discussion and be a lot better for peoples lives, for example. The most minute of barriers requiring you to deliberately and consciously join and leave...

Reminds me of https://diewithme.online/ which I just learned about. Not exactly the same as your idea, but definitely in the same vein of "only available under a certain condition"

This is most definitely an invitation to abuse your phone’s battery, but at the same time I absolutely love this idea. It’s hilarious to imagine someone eagerly awaiting the chance to log onto the site as the battery dips from 8, to 7, to 6. “Just a couple more minutes…”

Re: I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric

#145

Post by otoburb »

udev4096 wrote: post #128
__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not every decision is about opsec. If, for what you're doing, you want people to be alerted about your actions without your explicit say-so, then signal is not the tool for that job. Shame on discord for having a lousy privacy stance, but most people aren't on signal for the privacy, most people are on signal because that's where their friends are (and one or two of those friends is there for the privacy).

That's the difference between people who give in and people who don't. This is not about "opsec", it's about exercising your fundamental right to privacy. Majority of people are reckless, the ones who take a second to think about it are not

I agree with you, but the trade off is real for most people. It's unfortunately a binary choice: 'privacy ⊕ social community', instead of 'privacy & social' community.

It's interesting how opensource Zulip[1] hasn't been able to garner as much of a following or usage amongst the gamer crowd compared to Discord.

[1] https://zulip.com/

Re: I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric

#146

Post by j45 »

101008 wrote: post #66
donatj wrote: post #20

Mildly reminds me how being online on AIM or ICQ was an actual invitation to chat. I had so many interesting conversations with people I barely knew. There's no source of that signal that someone is open to chitchat these days, and it's in my opinion kind of killed what was once great about online communication.

This is something I've always wanted to write about, and I imagine that someday I'll end up with a long article, but basically, it's the idea that the internet used to be offline by default, and now it's online by default. People used to be offline by default. You had to “connect to the internet.” Open MSN, go into forums and check the latest unread messages, come back from a concert and manually upload the photos to…

Usable mobile data that was fast enough was one of the tipping points, meeting with the first smartphone that was for the many, the iPhone around the same time.

Re: I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric

#147

Post by j45 »

shark1 wrote: post #43
donatj wrote: post #20

Mildly reminds me how being online on AIM or ICQ was an actual invitation to chat. I had so many interesting conversations with people I barely knew. There's no source of that signal that someone is open to chitchat these days, and it's in my opinion kind of killed what was once great about online communication.

I have a theory: what was scarce once, is not anymore. Social networks make people tired/satisfied/overwhelmed of "interacting online", and in the worst possible way: passively, not producing anything and just consuming it. It sucks.

Taking more time away from it and coming back to it gives perspective on what to interact with, and what not to interact with.

Seeking novelty and fulfillment from scrolling vertically are all individually and collectively patterns, including notifications.

Creating is different than consuming when it comes to screens. Separating consuming onto a separate consuming device physically helps.

Re: I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric

#148

Post by AceJohnny2 »

sgarland wrote: post #70
DrillShopper wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My partner is disabled, and my home office is far enough from the bedroom/her work desk that I sometimes can't hear her when she could use, wants, or needs help. These very different priorities make messaging me difficult for her sometimes, not to mention that I can't know what the urgency is if she messages me over SMS/Signal/etc. As a result, we were looking into a very similar system where we each have an LED sign…

That’s a great idea! I remember on an Android phone - maybe Galaxy Nexus, or the original Pixel - you could blink an LED with different colors for different app notifications. I had blue, yellow, red, and green for various apps, and so without ever having the screen turn on or the device make sounds, I could tell if I should bother to check. To me, not having any sensory disabilities, that’s a lower cognitive load th…

The Nexus One [1] from 2010 had a little trackball that could light up for notifications.

While the trackball was understandably nixed in later models (though it was still useful for fine control!), its notification feature is dearly missed.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_One

Re: I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric

#149

Post by derkades »

worldsayshi wrote: post #133
udev4096 wrote: post #110

Going from signal to discord is crazy. How can you be OK with knowing that your personal voice chats are being monitored, recorded and sold to the next highest bidder? How can it be so easy to choose convenience over that? Or is it that we have essentially given up and wanna actively take a part in mass surveillance?

Is there some reasonable way to self host a (secure) voice chat channel?

Mumble!

Re: I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric

#150

Post by godot »

donatj wrote: post #20

Mildly reminds me how being online on AIM or ICQ was an actual invitation to chat. I had so many interesting conversations with people I barely knew. There's no source of that signal that someone is open to chitchat these days, and it's in my opinion kind of killed what was once great about online communication.

Would anyone still use a desktop-only (no mobile) messenger where you have to run/turn on intentionally (not always-on like most mobile-first messengers nowadays), lists online/offline friends the way AIM/ICQ did, and you can only send messages with online friends?

I get that most leisure computing has moved off of desktop to mobile in modern days, but there's definitely enough of us nerds who're on a computer a lot (even if just for work, if nothing else). It can't be any less than in the late 1990s when ICQ was popular.

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