That's a reasonable point, I hadn't considered differences in hardware, and I think controlling for that would probably explain a lot of the difference in my experience performance wise between the two. Thank you for the input, after that I'd update my conclusion to the main benefit of Zoom being ease of use, and the main benefit of Discord being the functionality provided in addition to calling, with significantly less confidence in any diffferences in performance.
This answer will be addressing the use of software for social life. Recently my extended family has been making use of Zoom to celebrate birthdays, while my friends have been primarily using Discord. Overall, I've found Discord provides a better user experience.
Of the two, Zoom has been comparatively easier to set up and run, however, the audio and visual quality seemed variable while we were using it. Also of note is the multiple security issues that have been raised with Zoom recently. Another advantage of Zoom that I've found is that it seems ...
I think this a useful message for many on this website. I would potentially word the college humanities essay example differently, as if the student is proud of their work irregardless of how much impact it has it does not seem to be a good example of what you're trying to refer to. No 'incorrect' value function and all that. I might reword it to more explicitly state how they are proud of how impactful it was, or how they were 'speaking truth to power', or something along those lines, or potentially use a different example. Overall though, very interesting read that seems relevant to my own journey and that I will try to keep in mind in future, so thank you.