What's your country's version of the blue/green bubble?
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For those who don't know:
Texts from iPhone to iPhone appear as blue bubbles, while texts from Android users appear as green.
For many in the US who still use SMS to communicate, the blue/green bubble divide is a huge source of social conflict.
What's your version of "If everyone knew this was a thing in my country, they'd think it was silly"?
Japan takes baseball teams seriously to the point that some bars forbid anything but the most basic conversations like with politics and religion. I think younger generations care less, but ive seen conversations ended as they got heated.
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For those who don't know:
Texts from iPhone to iPhone appear as blue bubbles, while texts from Android users appear as green.
For many in the US who still use SMS to communicate, the blue/green bubble divide is a huge source of social conflict.
What's your version of "If everyone knew this was a thing in my country, they'd think it was silly"?
the blue/green bubble divide is a huge source of social conflict.
I live in the US.
Wat
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Blue Bubbles vs Green Bubbles: Explained!
The "Blue" vs. "Green" Bubble War is Insane.
::: spoiler Why Apple’s iMessage Is Winning: Teens Dread the Green Text Bubble
Grace Fang, 20-years-old, said she too saw such social dynamics among her peers at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. “I’ve had people with Androids apologize that they have Androids and don’t have iMessage,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s Apple propaganda or just like a tribal in-group versus out-group thing going on, but people don’t seem to like green text bubbles that much and seem to have this visceral negative reaction to it.” Ms. Fang added that she finds the hubbub silly and that she prefers to avoid texting all together.
‘I’ve had people with Androids apologize that they have Androids and don’t have iMessage,” said Grace Fang.
Jocelyn Maher, a 24-year-old master’s student in upstate New York, said her friends and younger sister have mocked her for exchanging texts with potential paramours using Android phones. “I was like,
Oh my gosh, his texts are green,’ and my sister literally went,Ew that’s gross,’” Ms. Maher said.She noted that she once successfully persuaded a boyfriend to switch to an iPhone after some gentle badgering. Their relationship didn’t last.
Such interactions have made fertile ground for memes on social media. During the pandemic, Jeremy Cangiano, who just finished up his MBA at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, dealt with his boredom on TikTok, quickly noticing that blue-bubble-green-bubble memes were popular among young people. He tried to cash in on it last year by selling his own merchandise that touted, “Never Date a Green Texter.”
:::To the extent that this exists at all, it's basically functioning as a proxy for SES and knowledge of appropriate SES signaling. I'm sure Apple is very happy about it, but it doesnt imply that Apple has some sort of marketing campaign for it. People naturally sort themselves along SES lines.