Reddit used to be a great platform to discuss some topic and get different points of few in a friendly but factual manner. However, slowly it seems like the platform has become a lot more like Facebook, where it’s been invaded by toxic people that are constantly looking for opportunities to shit and hate on others.
The change has been gradual so I really didn’t notice it creep up on me. It’s become super evident now having used Kbin and others for a week or so where people generally seem to be more friendly again and willing to actually discuss things in a usually civil way.
The difference is stark too. Today I replied to a comment saying that I hope things turn out better for them and wound up in a weird comment chain about how people were apparently insensitive for wanting to get a basic haircut that they for some reason couldn’t afford themselves. Meanwhile, Kbin and the Fediverse feels like a refreshing place to actually converse with people once you get past the clunk and figure it out.
I think Reddit may well have reached that main stream social media saturation point where it very objectively now sucks. It happened originally with the internet itself thanks to the rise of the smartphone and this is just another iteration of it. I feel like Spez might as well get that bag at this point because they’ve ruined what used to be the platform people went to for social media without the bullshit, without algorithms to drive “engagement” and to avoid the toxic culture that has prevailed.
Thanks for reading my rant.
Reddit became too popular, and in general the average person using the internet just wants to be nasty to feel better about themselves.
It’s an easy trap to fall into. I try to avoid doing it myself.
I honestly think social media platform algorithms like Facebook/Insta/Twitter have actually trained us to do it more, too. Basically they’re optimized for whatever keeps eyeballs on their platforms longest and it turns out that generating outrage is an easy way to do that, so they prioritize showing you stuff that’s gonna get you to engage by pissing you off and/or making you feel self-righteous. And then that 1. makes people think that’s just how people act cos that’s what gets put in front of them and 2. encourages that behavior because it does numbers.
I’ve quit twitter twice (made it stick the second time) because no matter how hard I try, whenever I end up engaging I end up with people sniping at me and eventually I start sniping back. It just encourages me to be my worst self and it sucks.