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.
Nah I disagree, perhaps cause I am a zoomer but all the zoomers I know and communicated with online have been way more civil and understanding than previous generations. They even apologize to each other when a conversation goes way out of hand. Toxicity can go across every generation, but the millennial internet was/is a lot worse.
It’s funny, I have a best friend who is a zoomer and I definitely see some older millennials absolutely NOT getting zoomer “deadpan/apathy” memes and getting all bent out of shape about it. It reminds me of boomers and how if you use any expletives they won’t engage with someone at all and decide the point being made was invalid.
I agree with you that we can’t forget that 4chan and a lot of the early really bad harassment was millennials, who now are adults complaining about an atmosphere they created not being a space they want to be in now that they are older.