this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2024
191 points (95.7% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27240 readers
2028 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

reddit is shit and makes me annoyed, twitter is shit and makes me annoyed, tiktok is shit and makes me annoyed, pure news sites are boring, cracked is dead, google doesn't work anymore, lemmy is only memes and news and fairly slow

i feel like i used to be able to sink into an activity on this machine, but now i just spend 5 minutes somewhere, the algorithm runs out of content, i get annoyed and go somewhere else, same process happens. i feel like i have amnesia, i used to enjoy this but i have no idea how.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 70 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like you need to go outside m8. Try doing something new. Maybe do something good for yourself, like exercising or reading a book.

Also you can block the meme comms and the news comms that don't interest you and then your feed might have some more interesting posts.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 9 months ago (8 children)

While this is good advice in theory the unfortunate truth is if you block all the memes and news you're going to get like 1 new post a day. Lemmy is mostly memes and politics and Linux right now. We just don't have the population density such that the 28 English-speaking turtle breeders in the world can find each other in a community (or whatever else your hobby is). We're already struggling to fill content for relatively popular video games, for example, I've been subbed to the Deep Rock Galactic communities since day one but I've only ever seen like, two posts in those communities, ever, and both of them were within the past week. (I am well aware of the irony of myself, who has never posted content a day in his life, complaining about a lack of content - I'm more of a comments kind of guy, always have been. I won't go against my nature to post trash memes to communities that I want to see flourish. But I will vote up your trash memes if you want to post some.)

Point being, long story short, et al, etc. - Lemmy needs more users interested in posting more things than just memes and politics and Linux if we want to have an environment containing more than memes and politics and Linux. The future starts with YOU - and if not you then the next guy down the line, and so on until we run out of people with anything to say.

Anyway, I am quite stoned and must be on my way; my people need me. Adiós, amigo, until next time.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

you're going to get like 1 new post a day.

Huh, I hardly disagree, I barely follow news communities, no meme communities at all and still get a fairly fresh feed daily.

I follow 893, communities though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

@kratoz29 @skulblaka I hate to be that guy but your double negative threw me for a loop.
I think "I hardly agree" fits better here?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

I think "strongly disagree" is a better way to express it 😅

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

There are definitely growing pains here, it's the same problem Reddit has with people posting the same thing in multiple different communities, I don't want to block them, because they're communities that I'm interested in, it's just the same repeated stuff, which gets annoying.

I blocked the main politics subs because it was nothing but Trump posts (I'm American, so it's been like 8 years of hearing about this asshole on a nearly daily basis). The new annoyance is the constant posts in multiple communities about the Israel/Palestine conflict. I get that it's a hot issue, and a lot of people care about it, but I really don't and I'd rather not see stuff about it every freaking day.

It would be great if there was some sort of keyword filter for the c/All or even your subbed communities where you can filter out keywords so it's not an endless stream of the same shit. Another example is posts about the Yuzu Nintendo Switch emulator getting the ax, it's like "I know this happened, I don't need to see posts about it in 5 different communities".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

if you block all the memes and news you’re going to get like 1 new post a day

I have blocked most meme comms and all US news/politics comms (I'm not in the US so not so relevant to me) and I definitely still see a good amount of posts. So I don't agree with this.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 51 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Download and distribute Nintendo emulators and roms.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

I understand the reference.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I've embraced this and started reading more books and taking my health and passions more seriously. I've even ditched my Apple Watch and have found other ways to declutter and minimize my digital lifestyle. It's genuinely freeing and feels fantastic.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Me too, when I left reddit I took up ebooks and hadn't seriously read things since I was in high school. It's been great!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Same here! Been reading/listening to audiobooks since I left reddit. Found any new favorites?

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 9 months ago

Used to be reddit. I'm here now because I can't be on reddit anymore, but this place (maybe thankfully) just isn't the abyss to suck me into, so now, my online time is mostly on discord

I'm not counting videogames. Though I do play some online stuff, I don't consider it the same as something like browsing a website. It's a different activity. If you do count it, then yeah, it's games. My computer time is largely games

[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago

This is so true. I try to explain this to my wife and she doesn’t understand.

If I’m on my phone I’m either:

  1. Answering endless Teams chats or emails (I get work messages well outside of normal business hours because of my job—it’s annoying but I’ve also gotten used to it because we basically do everything async)
  2. Doom scrolling

I hate social media. I’ve hated Reddit since API. Lemmy is great but I’ll go days sometimes with the same home page. So I basically cycle through the same 3 sites endlessly. I got a Steam Deck to try and help with this, but when I hop on it my wife thinks I’m “playing video games so should be working on something.” I’ve tried to explain that using a Steam Deck is the equivalent of her scrolling social media, but alas.

So yeah. Basically nothing to do these days. I think the most frustrating part to me is how most content seems to be geared towards making me angry. I never remember it being like that.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago

Discord communities, youtube for content I enjoy, lemmy, checking tumblr and mastodon.

I used to say that "Once I leave Reddit I'll have more time for my hobbies instead of looking at a screen about my hobbies" but I realized that:

  • One website's existence doesn't solve or prevent a problem of my brain chemistry
  • I already have a lot of hobbies and reddit introduced me to some, and most of those are offline.

I think the fact that Reddit imploded is good, it gave me an excuse to leave a site that I hated more than I enjoyed being part of it, for lots of reasons.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If you have that lying around, play that freaking game you left on your steam library for later. While playing this game, limit/cut all your accesses to these social platforms that makes you turn in circles.

Also do invite old friends or loved ones, at least on discord, talking with real humans sometimes could help you disconnect from these ragebait worlds.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I recently put together a small discord server (maybe a dozen or so people) with some internet friends I met on IRC and Slack back in the day. It's been lovely getting the gang back together after most of a decade of silence, I'm enjoying catching up with everyone very very much. Highly recommend, it's been great for my recent mental health, and reportedly so for a couple other folks in the group as well.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I'm reading more and watching movies way more. I LOVE movies. Sometimes in the 2010s I completely lost the ability to watch movie without being on my phone. My goal is to change that

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I distinctly remember a brain glitch developing in my head circa 1992 when I no longer had the attention span for movies.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I spend a lot of time on Lemmy, sorted by Top>Day or whatever, which seems to provide mostly fresh stuff every morning. I'm on Telegram being an attention whore in my local art community/fandom/convention planning spaces. I browse art on websites, and Google like a madman in relation to my broken project car that I'm trying to restore. I am big into Outer Wilds, and was spending a lot of time on that up until recently. YouTube for offroad recovery videos (Trail Mater and Matt's Offroad Recovery), which is silly because I don't like offloading. It is fun to see the physics/mechanical aspect of how big truck recoveries work

I like to work with artists from Europe, so sometimes I spend inordinate amounts of time trying to track people down on Russian Google/Facebook (Yandex/VK) haha

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

Honestly I have more IRL hobbies now.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

I await death, that's what I do

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Other than reading webcomics and webserials, I don't spend a lot of time online these days. I check lemmy and reddit for about ten minutes each two or three times a day.

But increasingly I play local multiplayer games with my kids and read ebooks offline.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

I moved to a city where it's always warm, and sunny a lot so I'm outside a lot more now, just walking around or sun bathing. I'm also going to the gym regularly for once in my life haha

Most of the time I spend on my computer isn't browsing the web, but doing other stuff like modding Skyrim, playing other games, etc..

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

I've been doing more stuff offline these days. I've been making music that about 10% of people actually like, which is a pretty decent ratio, I think ( https://songwhip.com/thethreeleonards ). between music and board-gaming and TV the hours fill up.

I've been on The Internet since 1995. I, too, used to enjoy this. There is enjoyment to be found, but most of that is in finding people I can sincerely connect with, which is difficult. Treating The Internet like it's the Mirror Of Erised is not the way to happiness.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)

I visit forums that are associated with my hobbies, like satellite forums, tech forum etc. I also listen music, and post NSFW content(when I can) in other platforms(not in Reddit).

Hobbies are the only thing that keep me on the internet, apart from news and memes.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

Podcasts mostly. Lemmy is ok, but it lacks the content Reddit once had.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Well, first the obvious, Lemmy, YouTube, learn a language, learn a skill. Do you have any creative outlets?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

I mostly don't. I write, program, play a game, catch up on work, spend time with family, etc. instead. I'm kind of glad because I've noticed life has genuinely improved since taking a step back from the Internet's toxicity.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Discord, Mastodon, games. That's really it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Low effort stuff: Lemmy, rock paper shotgun, ars technica.

Slightly more effort: Bandcamp

High effort: video games, reading

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

I spend a lot of time with YouTube running while I work. For reading the news I have RSS feeds that I've accumulated from sites that I like. I spend a lot of time on Lemmy and Mastodon.

I don't use search as much anymore, cause often when I'm searching for a solution my results are more accurate using Chat GPT (and more and more local LLMs).

The internet is changing and that's okay.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

I like to play games and watch youtube in the background

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

I read the news once a day from the BBC equivalance of my country. I check the DayZ and Combat Footage subreddits few times a day. Other than that I'm either on YouTube, Lemmy or watching porn. That's literally covers over 99% of what I do online.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Recently mainly reading Light novels and Playing coop games with friends.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I mostly just read things on Mastodon, Lemmy and Bluesky, even though I didn't really do much social media in the before times. Actually got in touch with a side of myself I've been neglecting for a while, I guess. However, I've also learned that I'm not the kind of person that can deal with people online being sad, which is a problem on leftist social media where everyone is suffering. I should really touch grass or something.

Other than that, I've been gaming and trying to talk with friends over Discord (nobody is online much nowadays. ;_;).

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I've found that Mastodon (for those who don't know what it is, think of it as sort of distributed open source Twitter) has been great for me. There are lots and lots of instances, and you'll probably be able to find one that suits your interests. I'm very much into tabletop roleplaying games, and there were already several instances for that kind of thing, but I still started my own. It's been a lot of fun.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Reading, discord, mastodon, crocheting are my main things at this point. Lemmy occasionally.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

If I am not browsing lemmy or forums that I have used for 20+ years, I follow a few patreon creators to catch their new releases as well as a few other content creators who livestream on twitch and youtube.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I use Lemmy for discussion and reading the thoughts of others, like I used to do with Reddit.

I am old enough that I can't still use Facebook to check the lives of much of my friends and family. Discord is where I can chat with many of my younger friends.

YouTube gives me short video content for entertainment, and TikTok does the same for more serious topics.

I deep dive Wikipedia so regularly that my wife rightly insists we give at least $20 every time they ask for money.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Before the reddit api, I used to read around 24-28 books a year depending on length (Sanderson's tomes will always change that number because it's like reading 2 or 3 regular books)

Last year I hit 35. I didn't really read books over 1000 pages much last year but I definitely know I'm reaching for a book when I would normally doomscroll reddit.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Ultimate guitar .com + a few choice youtube videos and you could be playing amateurish but satisfying guitar songs in a few weeks. Take it from there and who knows how far you’d go.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I'm listening to a 44 hour audio book on YouTube.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I have limits set. 30 mins for Lemmy, 30 mins for YouTube, 30 mins for news and 30 mins for hacker news

I try to not just hang online, but instead game and watch shows

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Lemmy, YouTube. There's so many good videos on YouTube that I don't have time to watch. Searching up how to do something online. There's always some Linux programs I don't know to use. Currently I am also watching The Computer Chronicles on archive.org. There's also some sort of hidden parts of online you may not be realizing are there, though I haven't spent basically any time there yet. For example Gopherspace. Gopher is an old protocol that used to compete with HTTP. It still has some people using it, just for fun. Of course, you won't just find those gopher holes as the protocol isn't supported by modern browsers. You can use Lynx.
You can use Veronica 2 search engine here: gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I'm here. Or in a game. Or watching YouTube. Sometimes I am here while in a game watching YouTube. It's actually funny that I have been in VRChat, scrolling my phone using scrcpy while watching stuff on a screen on the virtual wall. Like I'm just doing what I would do without VR, but as my fursona in a sick space station.

It has the same vibe of watching a sim of yourself watching TV.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Kbin, online shopping and streaming music or video. The time surfing the world wide web for me is over. Most websites I used to visit have anti woke folk and other asocials now. It's depressing...

load more comments
view more: next ›