I will look into getting an e-reader though. Plan was always to spend less time on my phone. Photography doesn’t interest me. I’ve tried to get into it because hot girls are into it but I can’t even fake it.

Then don’t chase something you don’t enjoy! If you want to meet new people, be enthusiastic and have fun in what you’re doing right now, whatever it is. When I’ve learnt something in the last few years, then it is to have fun and enjoy yourself. Others will notice and will be interested into you.

You’re into books? Get a library card and ask the handsome lady next to you out. You enjoy collecting postcards? Weird, but interesting! Will be a great conversation starter. You get my point?

I honestly wouldn’t buy a “cheap” phone in your place to be honest. They don’t last as long. Maybe take a look into Fairphone, or Google Pixel devices. Both can run many CustomROMs (if you’re into that), extending the life span and making it more private. I’m a fan of the Fairphone, since you can repair it yourself and it has (I believe) 10 years of software support ootb

I noticed that I take a lot more care and attention on my posting on lemmy in general. The conversation can be much richer than it is on Reddit and I feel that it’s worth my time

Yep, same. I’ve also spent A LOT of time in this quarter just creating content and answering comments. But, none of it felt like wasted energy and I don’t regret anything. I was able to strengthen my created community, help others in topics I’m interested in, and so on…

I have terrible ADHD

Again, same. Medication and meditation helped a lot making me more mentally balanced and being able to read a book or doing hard mental work.

Also, when I let my thoughts drift, I think about all those great interactions I’ve had this day and not how shitty everything is in general, like it has been on Reddit. That really took a strain on my wellbeing, and I reduced my usage of it long before taking the plunge and switching to Lemmy.

Book recommendations

I “really” started reading not a long time ago. That was just something I was never able to due to said untreated ADHD, but now, I can, AND I LOVE IT!

I just started reading the Witcher books after playing through The Witcher 3. Even though I played it for 400 hours “without break”, it really hurt when it ended, and I wanted more from this immersive, disgusting, magic, beautifully crafted world. Those books (I’m into 2/6 now) are way better than I could have ever imagined and really help me break out of all this RL shit. Those books also demonstrate again how capitalism, Hollywood and Netflix transform a piece of european culture (which TW is based on) and extremely interesting characters into something as shallow and americanized as the series on Netflix. Different topic…

On the more “nerdy” side, I’m currently reading “Running Mycelium” from Paul Stamets right now. It’s about how mushrooms could save the world, for example by filtering out toxic waste or plastic from the environment, giving us a sustainable building solution, new medicinal horizons (e.g. antibiotics), and so on.

Yeah, otherwise, I have a lot of books in my reading list and already downloaded.

I will definately take a look into your recommendation, that sounds like a possibility for me to be fun at the next party 🙃 Text

Yes the karma system here is way better! It definitely reduces the hive mind mentality.

Sure, but we have to make sure we communicate what the up-/downvote function actually is for. Many Reddit-refugees would otherwise just keep it as a “I agree”-button, and nothing would change for the better.

Maybe if I could personally filter out communities that I’m not interested in?

I agree with the sentence before, but I don’t think filtering out everything you’re uninterested in is remotely possible. Yes, you can filter out some specific communities you dislike, like all those Linux-subs, if you find them annoying. (OH, btw.: That was a comment in one of their/ our memes, and when one guy, coming from outside the sub, complained this stuff is constantly on his trending page, someone suggested “We’re only 3 popular subs. Just blacklist us and you’ll never hear from us again” it really resonated with me!)

Alternative?

I personally would rather enjoy a “promote” than “bury” function, something like a “GigaUpvote™” for posts you wish others to see too. Market the up- and downvote button as a quality filter, especially for comments, and if a post gets a certain ratio of up- and downvotes, comments and promotions, it will appear on the “popular”-tab.

Just as an additional function, IF YOU WANT. Keep the “old” spirit for those who prefer it, and suggest it for newcomers to find new content. And make it easy to toggle off for social media junkies like myself.

Same here. I have nothing of value to add.

What changes did you notice in your thought patterns when you withdrew from Reddit?

What books are you into and would recommend? Is there a community here?

I wouldn’t agree with “better content” per se.

There’s just as much “spam” (links to articles, low effort posts, etc.) as everywhere else. At the same time, the content is waaaay better.

Karma

The fact that you don’t have to keep your karma in mind here let’s you speak more freely.

If I would say “Pineapple on pizza is disgusting”, I would have been downvoted to oblivion on Reddit. Here, they just ignore it, OR, don’t downvote and tell me why I might be wrong.

Back to Reddit: That, in fact, would give me two options:

1. Delete this said comment, which would discourage discussions and make every community hive-minded, or,
2. Stay strong to my opinion, and loose the ability to post to many subs anymore, because I now have -5000 Karma.

I always chose 1… Here, I don’t care. And this mindset has lead to many great, mind opening discussions.

Even on subs like r/Changemyview or r/Unpopularopinion this culture didn’t exist. No opinion was unpopular, merely “weird” (like “I like my socks wet” and stuff). Every “unpopular” opinion was popular on Reddit. And elsewhere, everything was a fight.

On this site, disagreeing is only for useful discussions I had/ read too. It’s almost like an “anti-echochamber”, and I love it! I love my opinions being challenged.

One more result of that is that the upvote/ downvote function went from “I agree/ I find that funny” or “This is against the subs opinion” to “This comment is worth reading for others and adds value. OP put work into it”. WHICH IT SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE BEEN! This button isn’t for disagreeing, it’s for FILTERING out trash!

Algorithm

Also, there’s no algorithm. On many other social media, post that make you laugh (-> mostly dumb stuff or reposts) or promote strong emotions (mostly aggression and tribalism) got promoted.

Here, it’s somehow totally random. There’s so much “boring” stuff on my trending page. But, I’ve discovered many cool niche subs here I wouldn’t have otherwise. I didn’t know so many people were into collecting space rocks and model trains for example 😁

E.g., my own gourmet-mushroom-growing-community got super many views and comments from people who’ve never heart of that before. That was unbelievable!

On the other hand, there’s sooo much useless information, some opt-in filtering/ algorithm wouldn’t be bad tbh. But many say that about account karma too, which is a way smaller feature, and that has repercussions too (see above). Something like an algorithm would be HUGE, but also maybe hugely bad for this site?

Idk, tell me! Be controversial! 😁

Yes and no. I think it makes sense when you separate it a bit more.

Instead if throwing everything in one list, create profiles/ categories/ folders/ whatever.

I use it mainly for the public state media in my country. Those “media hubs” are a horrible UX (despite being insanely expensive!) and to fix that I add some of their shows into my RSS, so it works similar to the YouTube subscription box, because somehow german media people are still behind 30 years… In that way I fix that shit for myself because they can’t…

I don’t use it for example for news or YouTube, since both have a timeline already built in.

I really recommend trying an e-reader in your local shop or borrowing one from a friend if you can.

I’ve read books on my phone for about a year now, but the “feeling” isn’t right there, and I somehow get distracted a bit.

I’m really a fan of “a device should do one thing, and that really good”. I bought a camera, a reader, and so on because of that. My software habits are the same. I have dozens of simple apps on my phone and PC, and all of them serve one single purpose. Look up the UNIX-principle if you’re interested in more. (Sorry, this site is full of Linux-circlejerk 🙃)

• The camera makes 10x better photos than every top tier smartphone (+ is a fun offline hobby that improves your skills!)
• The reader gives you a display that’s super easy on the eyes, lasts for weeks on battery and doesn’t distract you.
• My smartphone is only there for communication (Lemmy, messengers, calls) or if I have to quickly look up something on the web

Separating everything really also separates your mind, giving you peace.

It’s minimalist and maximalist at the same time.

Nothing has changed

I don’t believe anything has changed neurologically or psychologally in the last decades.

There have always been people who are more susceptible to consume “trashy” (provoking, easy to consume) media.

Once it was low-quality newspapers (a german band once refered to them as “fear, hate, tits and the weather forecast”, which fits really well!), then it was trash TV, then mobile games, and now TikTok and stuff. Some people are just attracted to flashy stuff and can’t get enough dopamine.

It’s just that the latter example is very new, and everything new is automatically bad, no matter what.

There have always been young people who read books, create art, video game, listen or create music, have hobbies, and so on.

BUT, something has changed:

One word: attention economy. Capitalism realized, that especially in combination with ads, you can create A LOT of money by making easy to consume content.

If a platform uses dark patterns (emotional or funny content, reinforcement, short content instead of longer stuff, flashy stuff, likes, endless scrolling, keeping you as long as possible in the app, etc.), it makes a lot more money with it’s users.

Years of algorithms perfectionized manipulating you and your attention span with supernatural stimuli (as mentioned above).

What to do with those informations?

Notice, how boring Lemmy, RSS-feeds, and stuff like that are?

After checking my posts for this day, I’m done and do something different, like cleaning the kitchen. Now, I’m on the toilet and don’t have anything else to do, and I have fun answering you :)

That’s how our devices should work. I don’t wanna be a slave, I want to own my device, and not the other way around.

Tbh, I’m grateful Reddit went downhill. A year ago I could never imagine nuking my account.

I spent my whole teenage and now adult years (15 - now) on that shithole, was super addicted and couldn’t spend 2 minutes without checking my phone, even in meetings, dates, and so on. It was just as bad as vaping for me. I knew, that it was slowly killing every brain cell, but “loved” it too much.

Thanks, u/spez ❤️ You killed Reddit for me and made my new “Reddit” (-> Lemmy, but with the same app) THAT boring for me I bought an e-reader now to read books instead😂