there are a lot more than 8800 subreddits though, where is this number from?

I kinda owe this whole protest the fact that my most recent complaints about the internet have finally found an answer in the shape of many place I have discovered, like Lemmy and its instances, Kbin and its instances, Matrix and its instances...

I am finally feeling a little more like I used to when I browsed the internet in the 00s, when I just had so many different places to go for different things, rather than just being actively manipulated into staying in one play that "has it all". Sure, the fediverse, too, may have the same effect, but its instance actually feel different, and I think I'm seeing different kind of content as well.

There are things that I consider dear to me about Reddit and the communities I discovered there, but if its decline means that I stop mindlessly scrolling it trying to find that "final" stimulation for my brain, and instead start interacting with actually interesting, human-like, and though-out content, then the sacrifice is well worth it. Life changes, and the good changes should be welcome, even if they result from something less than pleasant like this.