messaging people across different apps—imessage, signal, telegram, instagram dms, WhatsApp, feels different, even though, functionally, they’re all instant messages that show up on my phone. certain platforms feel closer to me, like imessage, while others feel more distant? I’m not sure if this is an actual distinction or just a mental perception, but it’s interesting how digital spaces create different psychological distances between people

Urbanist thinking about open places, open access, and open web
/urbanism + https://zora.co/@miawintam

this feels natural in the case of imessage because you need someone’s personal phone number (ig technically you could use their apple id but idk anyone who does that? lol)

giving me your phone number is obv more vulnerable than “follow me on insta @ “

think it’s both actual distinction + mental perception btw

differing degrees of control + consent

your insta exists in public. you can be found even if profile is private = some control + consent

your signal is fully private. you can’t be found, you choose to share your number w someone. full control + consent

Definitely, numbers are more gated than usernames