I've been fairly immune to the "charms" of social media for a long time. I didn't get a smart phone until about two years ago, and I abandoned Facebook for personal use not long after the Zuck opened up the platform to non-college users. Reddit, however, has been an exception. For a couple years now, the majority of my internet browsing, either on my phone or my PC, has been taken up by Reddit. I get to see the latest video game controversy, ask the mycology subreddit whether the mushrooms my toddler ate are poisonous, and browse the front page to see whatever is trending. There's always something interesting on Reddit, and unlike other social media, it's basically an old-time Internet forum, which makes me nostalgic for the days of Something Awful (as awful as that sounds). Yet Reddit is still social media; it's still recording your browsing habits and recommending similar subreddits based on what you're consuming. In other words, it's very easy to get into a nice little bubble instead of discovering new interests. The algorithm knows you better than you know yourself (then again, it will occasionally recommend some weird shit, like celebrity gossip). Other than subtly nudging your browsing interests, Reddit also has a way of encouraging negativity. Negative engagement is passionate engagement, and passionate engagement usually trends to the top of search algorithms. Gaming subreddits are full of endless criticism, and you'll certainly rue the day you subscribed to the politics subreddit. Doom and gloom seem to be pervasively spread by group-think, another scourge of the Internet, and one of Reddit's biggest problems. A consensus usually forms regarding various issues, and woe to the user that challenges the majority. The initial liberalism of the Internet has given way to a tyranny of user manipulation that we are all vaguely aware of, yet we lack the self-discipline to do anything about it. After all, we got to get that sweet dopamine hit from scrolling through your feed, right?
So yeah, I'm going to try to quit Reddit. I've tried before, and I always come crawling back. This time though, I wrote a blog post, so that makes it different, heh. We have enough negativity in our lives with the constant bombardment of negative news. I don't think the human race would've made it to this point had social media been around for thousands of years.
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