this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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Everyone keeps commenting on how federation feels “emptier” than Reddit, but honestly all I did after 15 or so years on Reddit is doom scroll. I just lurked and felt miserable. There IS less content here and because of that I visit for a shorter period of time and that FREEs me up to do other, more productive things with people I know outside of social media. After the past few weeks of learning about the tech and the why and how of the land I think I like the balance here.
Nine year redditor here; I never fell into the doomscrolling that so many others talk about, and I will miss Reddit, but something I've discovered is that while it's difficult to get a "toe hold" in the fediverse, once you do, there is way more content here than I ever knew about on Reddit.
Not saying that Reddit didn't have it, but rather that I never got curious enough to poke around beyond my main block of subs that I'd curated over that decade. There are entire domains here devoted to science or philosophy or retro gaming, and it really does look like they're vibrant and active. Finding them is the issue, which really is the big problem with the fediverse in the first place.
There really isn't a great cut-and-switch over to Lemmy that will make a redditor feel like nothing has changed, but the discovery process isn't too much different from Reddit, and I think people need to remember that their Reddit experience wasn't built in a day. My suggestion is to take a more curious approach rather than the "Reddit's dead, what's its identical replacement?" that I see, because there really isn't one and, even if there was, it'd be just as susceptible to the same disease that is currently killing Reddit (and Twitter).
I think this is great. It’s a new opportunity for all of us to define something new - whatever that means to each of us.
See, I have to agree with how it feels empty. I very carefully curated the subs I looked at on reddit. I was there for very specific news and discussion and memes about my various hobbies and interests all compiled into a single easy to access place. This does not fill my needs yet. But hopefully we can start filling that niche going forward.
That’s exactly my experience- Reddit was really my only social media for most of the last 5 years. I had everything I wanted in one place, and multireddits in Apollo kept it all running smoothly
Totally agree that I want more variety. As with any adventure only time will tell if this is worth it as far as a time investment.
Rather than simply look to Lemmy as a replacement, I've also been trying not just not need to look at a screen constantly.
Honestly, in addition to the doom scrolling, because there is less here at the moment, I feel like I can contribute more without feeling like I’m talking to an empty field after a festival. This place will grow, but hopefully it doesn’t turn out to be as Reddit is.
It feels like Lemmy has gotten significantly better over the last few days. I’m having to close out much less frequently
I haven't read more than a handful of books in the last decade; I'm sure it's because I got my reading fix on Reddit instead. I'm really curious how this will change in the future.
I’m the same way - I don’t read anymore. I have a BA in English. I should love reading. I am also in a career that involves a bunch of reading and writing, so I am also kinda burned out at the end of the day by stressful content; and Reddit did always have something fun and dumb to look at along with the doom. (Oh, can’t forget about the great Google search sourcing - I do miss that)
Stopped using Reddit on mobile for a while when they announced they were killing 3rd party apps. Replaced it with the Apple "Books" app, and I've gone through 2 books already. Highly recommend it lol
Crazy question, I’ve seen the phrase doom scroll a few times- I get the scroll, but not the doom? I feel like I’m missing something
Happy to explain! For me doom scrolling is the tendency to be attracted to the top trending posts of the last 24 hours on Reddit - specifically bad or triggering news. Perhaps for some people that would be news only about social movements or political policies that are frightening for them or their loved ones. Hence a sense of “doom” when scrolling through the feed. Another example might be posts related to Ukraine and Putin’s tactical nukes being moved to Belarus. It all depends on the individual but it’s usually triggering shit that you really don’t need to see more of …
That's an interesting take and would have been much harder to digest if I saw a comment like that on reddit. However, most of the things I was viewing were all doom and gloom with some exceptions.
I would start the day, looking at doom and gloom and wonder why my anxiety and stress seemed to coincide at the same time. 2 days now and I can clearly see how even scrolling through that stuff was bad for my mental health. I'm still interested in keeping an eye on news but not to that same level again. I kind of feel reset if that makes any sense. While I think the CEO is a dumbass for doing that, I think as time goes on, I might actually be thankful that it happened.
Either way, realizing now how the constant scrolling was a negative impact for me, and dipped my bucket every single morning, I am now aware and can try to learn from it.
I take it to mean people just scrolling and scrolling their life away, because they are addicted to see what else will appear next. A lot of social media tries to get this happening on purpose so people use their service more and more.
Never heard of that term, but making a blind guess... "doom scroll" is basically searching for world/daily tragedies and projecting one's insecurities towards such, i.e "HAHA that guy deserved to be trashed!... even more than I do."
Yeah I agree. Of course it feels empty. But so did reddit. it's just a different kind of empty. At reddit it was like walking lonely halls that went on forever. Here, at least, it feels like there's only twenty-seven people all stuck on the face of a brand new habitable planet. It really feels like a fresh start, and it's up to us to make this place better for everyone.
Yep, smaller, but a tighter group of like-minded folks.