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Reddit and the End of Online ‘Community’
(nymag.com)
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this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
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Technology
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I was definitely addicted to reddit but it's been surprisingly easy to stop using it. I have been reading instead and I'm 75% of the way through Wool right now. Before I would endlessly scroll through but now when I open reddit I am bored in a few minutes. I'll probably still use it to find useful answers on Google but otherwise 🤷♀️
I don't think I would have broken away without Kbin/Lemmy. Turns out I was addicted to discussion, not Reddit.
There really is no other large social media site that allows you to converse with actual people. Youtube and Twitter are all about chatting with the content creator, trying to get their attention. Facebook is for getting yelled at by distant relatives. Fortunately Kbin and Lemmy where there to catch us.
This is the thing that absolutely blows my mind. It's such an important niche. When you look at what the internet can do the most important thing you come to is basically reddit. Reddit all but wiped out traditional forums when it took over the niche and has dominated that space for years but it's such an absolutely piss poor implementation of the concept. I think it really speaks to how under utilized social media has been towards doing actual GOOD in the world.
That's kinda what you find out over time and as you see platforms crumble.
the platform itself is just a wrapper for the discussions. If you can find somewhere with those discussions? The wrapper is irrelevant.
It is important for people to have a place to discuss or hear others discuss important topics -- so I really think we're all a bit addicted to discussion.
I still open reddit on accident. Fuck that muscle memory.
I've had RIF on the same part of my home screen for over a decade. That muscle memory will be very hard to break.
I put Mlem in place of Apollo to try to try to not do that
I've always been pretty good about limiting my casual reddit browsing to only when I have literally nothing else I can productively do with my time, so I'm very pleased that for the most part Lemmy and kbin can already pretty effectively fill that gap for me despite containing a fraction of the firehose that is reddit.
And you're absolutely right that it's a great excuse to refocus on any other hobby.
The last time I closed the Apollo app was last Sunday night, and I haven't been back since. And each day gets easier on two fronts:
I don’t think it was was exactly an addiction not for me anyway. I think more accurately it was just an easy option at any given moment. Bored? Open reddit. Stopping using it was difficult only in the sense that I kept reaching for the app. But as soon as I started to get over the reflex and find some alternative things to do, turns out I didn’t miss it at all.
I’m enjoying the slightly slower pace over here.
Also I need to finish wool myself stopped at about 1/5 through book one for some reason I don’t remember.
Maybe Spez can try to sue Google for money once everyone leaves his platform.
Inb4 the federation pact
I know this is off topic, but wool is a great book! If you haven't watched the Apple TV show I'd recommend it as well; they definitely switch up the story a bit but I've enjoyed it so far.