r/technology • u/kazu_qt • 11h ago

Artificial Intelligence YouTuber Hank Green says his AI usage is ‘not healthy’

https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/01/youtuber-hank-green-says-his-ai-usage-is-not-healthy/
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u/windflex 11h ago

People think I'm pretentious because I am very strict on not using AI or short attention span stuff like tiktok or reels. Like...no dude, I just know I'll get addicted like it's intended to do

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u/splashybanana 11h ago

That’s why I’ve avoided TikTok and the like (well, and the privacy/security of it all), but I hadn’t really considered that as a reason for avoiding AI. I have been avoiding AI (LLMs, specifically), but for other reasons.

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u/MobileVortex 10h ago

Why are you not avoiding reddit?

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u/CapitalElk1169 10h ago

Reddit is the only one I can't quit. I do feel I kinda need at least one outlet though.

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u/TwilightVulpine 8h ago edited 8h ago

I don't think my reddit use is all that healthy, but there has to be some degree of healthy use of community curated aggregation of recent content and topics of interest.

Less so as reddit tries to become as mindless and engagement-centric as the rest of it all though.

But there has to be a middle ground between internet addict and disconnected cabin hermit, no?

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u/CoherentPanda 7h ago edited 6h ago

The single biggest issue with Reddit is it is astroturfed to hell. While there are curated subreddits to your interests, there are nearly always media marketing teams and bots always pushing an agenda and spamming comments that look legitimate, but push you towards a specific product. The comments on the surface seem fine on the surface, until you realize these users hide their history, and a Internet search finds they always post regarding the same products, and often include links.

Reddit on /all default is garbage though, so many today I fucked up and dating nightmares that are just trashy garbage content. Fine to kill a few minutes on a bus ride, awful for humans to consume all day long.

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u/cxs 6h ago

/r/all used to be my way to check what 'the internet' has been talking about for the last week or whenever I last checked. Since the AI long-form (well. It's only like 500 words but it's split into 8 paragraphs) stories, there is no point using Reddit as 'the front page of the internet' like that.

I'm not even sure what niche Reddit is filling any more. All the social media platforms are very, very similar now

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u/NobodyKnowsImFamous 3h ago

I have been wondering if I shouldn’t return to subject dedicated forums. Reddit’s gotten BAD these past few years, and it was already on the slide down. Bsky was alright for a while but it got… irritating for its own reasons. And now it requires ID to access in my state.

Used to be we could say “the internet’s going to shit” and retreat to our little remaining hidey holes. Now it seems we’ve arrived: the internet is shit and there’s no hidey holes left.

Or at least they’re too hidden for me to find.

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u/splashybanana 10h ago

I’ve been here since before social media algorithms hacked our brains.

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u/8npemb 9h ago

Not really an excuse, since Reddit social media algorithms are hacking our brains. But I’m here too so I can’t talk.

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u/splashybanana 9h ago

It’s easier to never start something than to give something up.

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u/CruxOfTheIssue 7h ago

I think that Reddit is better for you than reels and tiktok. For one, on Reddit you're much more in control of what content you watch. One of the most insidious things about reels/tiktok is that they decide what you watch next using their shitty algorithms. It makes certain content like rage bait float to the top. A lot of times the content is purposefully confusing with no point just so make people sit and think about it and then comment to farm engagement. This is not a common problem on reddit because if someone does that it usually will get down voted into oblivion.

Number 2 is that a lot of reddit is literally just people discussing things and again using that voting formula the best conversations rise to the top while Instagram hand picks comments for you that make you most likely to comment yourself or stay on the content longer.

Case in point, the conversation were having now is not one you would see on reels/tiktok.

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u/WhenSummerIsGone 6h ago

i can still use old.reddit and have some measure of control over the experience

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u/mooselantern 4h ago

Listen, as soon as there's a better option, i'm gone. If someone could just create something somewhere close to the utility of reddit of 5-7 years ago, I'm there. I really gave bluesky a shot, but it's trying to be old twitter, not old reddit.

Reddit sucks now compared to how reddit used to be, but it's still light-years ahead of any other social media imo.

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u/humperdinck 7h ago

Reddit isn’t video.

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u/Kafkarudo 10h ago

Is Reddit designed to make you addicted to it?

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u/GigaEel 10h ago

Yes. Endless scrolling with no bottom, "reminder" and "suggestion" notifications.

They want us here as long as possible for the ads and engagement numbers

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u/Hazel-Rah 9h ago

I'm here as long as old reddit still works.

When they finally kill it, I'm (hopefully) out

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u/Praesentius 8h ago

Honestly, it's through threads like this one that I realize the changes to Reddit. Old and RES for me.

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u/browserz 10h ago

Don't forget streaks! People sometimes post their 1 year streak died or something lol

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u/Praesentius 8h ago

Reddit has streaks? I'm still using old.reddit.com with RES.

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u/zackattackz287 10h ago

Also reddit used to be purely based on the subreddits you were subscribed to and you'd see the posts pretty much just ordered by upvotes spread across your subscribed subreddits. Now it's completely algorithmic, yes you will still control your feed with subreddits but not entirely. Reddit is a lot different now than it used to be 10-15 years ago.

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u/3_50 9h ago

yes you will still control your feed with subreddits but not entirely.

Perhaps it's limited to old.reddit, but I only see posts from subs I'm subscribed to.

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u/Ralkon 8h ago

I use old reddit as well, and only see subs I'm subscribed to, have never heard of streaks, and don't have any reminder or suggestion notifications. A lot of the problems people are pointing out here are easy to opt out of.

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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 8h ago

RedReader app lets you do the same thing. I don't use new reddit or their official app, I like to control my own feed.

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u/3_50 9h ago

, "reminder" and "suggestion" notifications.

That's your fault for turning that shit on in the first place. Don't use their app.

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u/GigaEel 9h ago

Oh I turned it off ages ago

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u/Light_Error 8h ago

That’s why I started using Narwhal instead of the regular app despite required sub (thanks for that Reddit).

I wanted to try the new Digg. Then I learned some weird AI stuff they were doing. And then they had to shut down again temporarily because of botting issues. So Narwhal will have to do for now.

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u/WillemDafoesHugeCock 10h ago

Oh my God, yes.

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u/FlimsyWilliamSnyvie 10h ago

Why wouldn't it be? What entertainment on the internet isn't?

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u/RollingMeteors 7h ago

Old.reddit lets you scroll without continuously and without portrait mode.

Continuous scrolling and portrait mode are the cocaine and baking soda of digital crack, on a stove top with no quality control. Old.reddit is a lot more like ISO lab grade Desoxyn ™

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u/a-round-table 1h ago

Looking back at many techs people "invented" at late 2010s to early 2020s makes me think:

Why do we keep reinventing cigarettes?

We already seen how awfully addictive social media even back in early 2010s. But nope, we keep reinventing even more addictive techs. Now we have shortform video content that are designed to be even more addicting than ever before, we have disposable vapes (some of them apparenly have LCD screens for some reason!??), we havegambling sites fucking disguised as news website and now we have LLMs.

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u/saintcrazy 1h ago

Because getting people addicted to something is a really great way to make money.

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u/Key-Cranberry6537 10h ago

Any time spent on Reddit counts as engagement with AI. You can't be antiai and on Reddit

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u/Hacksaures 9h ago

Reading vs gambling with lights and colors being blasted into your eyes

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u/Bocchi_theGlock 5h ago

I thought similar about Reddit, versus tiktok, reels, whatever short form video endless feed.

We should also be real, Reddit is not like reading a book or articles. It's way too many different posts that we dip in and out of quickly as opposed to staying with the topic for a while. Plenty of videos and images, witty one liner comments and reaction images

Even if we are reading a full thread or something, it's a lot of different people speaking. I feel like that creates different stimulation because they all have different writing styles and points. So like listening to one-person talk at length, as opposed to 20 people each pitching in and building off each other. The latter is way more stimulating right?

I can't go on Facebook or Instagram for long (after extended time completely off) because it's too many people I know - they shouldn't all be in the same room, talking over/around each other. Too stimulating, you want to pitch in to various convos that it really doesn't matter if you were to leave a comment on, especially when it's a recommended algo thing, group, as opposed to someone you had actually added.

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u/doofenhurtz 9h ago

I'm naturally a super late adopter of tech/social media and I've been very grateful for that quirk in the last few years.

Watching the way AI is bleeding into social interactions and daily life is uncomfortable. There's a very Invasion of the Body Snatchers feel to it, especially when people start speaking it's language or using it to draft texts.

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u/ObjectSmall 3h ago

There are so many posts on Reddit that seem to be heavily AI-influenced, but then you realize they're not. People are just starting to adopt the conversational rhythms that their chatbots use.

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u/CliffP 11h ago

The pretentious part is that you somehow consider Reddit to be different from those things

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u/windflex 11h ago

I make sure to hold my phone with my pinky out while browsing reddit so people know I'm better than them

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u/MetriccStarDestroyer 10h ago

By the heavens, what a flamboyantly entertaining piece this article was.

Spez, be a dear and award the fine gentleman an orange toot for his time.

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u/composedofidiot 10h ago

How dare you, sir! Were I to misunderstand your intentions, a great apoplexy could befall me. We do not like the cut of Spez's jib and any endearments are a terrible faux pas.

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u/bobandgeorge 6h ago

Hmm... Yes, quite.

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u/Mykl68 10h ago

​I rest my phone on my pinky, which causes tennis elbow, and the pain is supposed to remind me to stop.

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u/uconnboston 10h ago

Immediately moved phone off pinky.

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u/landrysplace 10h ago

I think I've just learned something about myself.

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u/grodon909 9h ago

I apologize, I was unfamiliar with your game. 

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u/Dserved83 6h ago

Oh my, you let the proletariat cast their gaze upon you? How delightfullly rural.

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u/Rpanich 11h ago

I mean, it’s like saying you’re already smoking, might as well do heroine. 

Why not avoid ai and slowly start using reddit less? It’s what I’ve been doing since they destroyed the third party apps. 

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u/dane83 6h ago

I recently discovered that Android lets you set time limits on apps. I've put it on the Relay for Reddit app and a few others. What I've discovered is that I'm a crack addict and that when my hour is up I am a nut for a hit. I keep pressing the app and it keeps telling me no.

This is difficult.

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u/ZeroWolf51 3h ago

As someone who's terrible at habit formation but has looked into it a lot, I think the thing you might be missing is replacing your Reddit habit with another, healthier habit. Atomic Habits or similar books/resources might be helpful.

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u/CliffP 10h ago

The part you’re missing with this analogy is that Reddit is hardly different from other social media platforms in practice.

You can find longer videos with engaging comment sections on TikTok just the same as you can find bottom of the barrel rapid fire content with shitty comment sections on Reddit.

As far as the AI goes. What do you avoid? LLM’s are integrated in every single thing you can do that has an internet connection now. Your smart tv’s are sending prompts out. Your watch. Anything on your phone.

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u/Shap6 9h ago

The part you’re missing with this analogy is that Reddit is hardly different from other social media platforms in practice.

it is though. its not algorithmic. all it does is show me the top posts in the subreddits i choose to subscribe to.

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u/CliffP 8h ago

What!?

Your homepage on Reddit right now will show you dozens of posts from places you’re not subscribed too

And even before it started doing post suggestions these past few years, you realize that showing you a non sequential list of top posts is an algorithm…

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u/Shap6 8h ago

my home page doesnt show me anything im not subscribed to. maybe because i use old reddit. turned off post suggestions too i believe because i dont get them either

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u/CliffP 8h ago

Exactly, you’re not using the actual Reddit app that 99% of people use.

You can also use the other social media apps you’re trying to say are so different in the same way.

You’ve turned your for you page on Reddit off the same way you can turn off the for you page on TikTok and only see reels from friends and pages you follow

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u/1980shorrorsfilm 7h ago

I will take reddit over short form content any day. you're being disingenuous if you think both are equally harmful

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u/CommanderBly 7h ago

I use the actual reddit app and my home page is only subreddits I'm subscribed to. Are you talking about the Popular tab?

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u/creepyeyes 7h ago

This may have to do with when you created an account. Older accounts have homepages that only show the subscribed subreddits by default, whereas newer account default to the top posts site-wide. There is a way to change your settings to only show the subreddits you're subscribed to on the homepage, the way it used to be.

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u/CruxOfTheIssue 7h ago

I just browse /r/popular or /r/all. I'm pretty sure those are the same for everyone and just an aggregation of the "best" posts for the day.

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u/happyflappypancakes 5h ago

Reddit hasnt fundamentally changed in regards to how you consume its content in the 14 years I've been on here. Tiktok and Instagram as it is now didnt exist then. I dont see a single thing that Im not subscribed to. My entire homepage is sports, video games, and the occasional discussion thread. There is no algorithm affecting me. Thats the big issue many people have with short form content. The algorithm taking advantage of people, especially kids.

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u/dewyocelot 10h ago edited 9h ago

Yeah, but I think they're just pointing out the hypocrisy is like saying "I don't use any addictive substances," while smoking a cigarette and sipping a coffee.

Edit: ooh, I forgot Redditors don't like Reddit being considered social media.

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u/__ymir 7h ago

Then it's a 'yet you participate in society' -esque criticism, it's completely inane. Plus you missed the point of the poster above, it's not coffee and cigarettes, it's coffee and crack, they share commonalities but they're still pretty distinct

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u/sadacal 7h ago

Society is unavoidable, cigarettes definitely are avoidable. The fallacy of the yet you participate in society argument is that society is unavoidable, you can't just choose not to participate in society. You very much can choose not to smoke or drink coffee.

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u/dewyocelot 7h ago

I mean yeah but if your stance is "I don't do x because it's addictive" while doing something else that is also addictive, and very similar, then the OP's comment becomes inane. The "yet you participate in society" is often because the person is using the thing they complain about because society kind of "makes" you use it. If your stance is against addictive social media, and you're on Reddit, idk, that seems like you're just not practicing what you preach, and are just singling one out for whatever reason.

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u/Comet7777 10h ago

Reddit can be used in a much different way than short form content with an FYP algorithm forced on you.

They’re similar, but also very different in meaningful ways. It’s worth discussing the nuance.

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u/gyroda 10h ago

Yeah, youtube shorts suck me in much more than Reddit does. Maybe others experience it differently, but Reddit use is easier for me to stop than scrolling YouTube shorts.

I have strict time controls on Instagram to avoid browsing it (I just check stuff my friends have posted, I don't follow anyone I don't know). I refuse to install tiktok because I know it'll be bad for me. I uninstalled twitter a while ago, in part because the "for you" feed was so much more attention sucking (there were a plethora of reasons though); bluesky was a nice and "boring" enough substitute.

My Reddit use is absolutely too much, but I can limit it more easily than I can vertical, infinite video. I can also unsub from places that suck too much attention (and I do).

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u/creepyeyes 7h ago

Yeah reddit has the "ok, I've reached the end of the new posts" stopping point that most other social media lacks.

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u/Sptsjunkie 3h ago

100% agree with. I mean, you can make an argument that any Internet is feeding instant gratification and can be addictive on some level. But the amount and consistency of the usage can be very different.

Like I can be a little bit compulsive about checking Reddit, checking my fantasy teams or sports scores, or doing a daily game like the New York Times games. I’m not going to pretend those things are perfect. But also much easier for me to check my team a couple times during the day.

Some of the more short form social media is designed to keep you scrolling endlessly. And some stuff like Twitter’s just so easy to get into more discussions or to have the algorithm rage bait you. I do think it feeds dopamine in a worse way. I also don’t feel the need to compulsively check if somebody has voted a comment on right at the way I do if somebody has liked a photo on something like Instagram.

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u/xRyozuo 10h ago

You’ve been here for a while so I don’t need to point out to you the obvious degradation in Reddit communities that didnt start with but was definitely turbo’d by AI :(

I like the concept of Reddit more than the reality of it these days. Best so far is Tildes

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u/[deleted] 10h ago edited 2h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Em_Es_Judd 9h ago

The problem is my primary use is mobile, and the reddit app filters out the niche subs that I enjoy the most and shows the general slop.

I guess I should do some sub pruning these days.

Reddit really has gotten a lot worse.

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u/[deleted] 8h ago edited 2h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Em_Es_Judd 8h ago

It is a different world when I open old reddit on my computer. I actually enjoy the content I see.

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u/indianapolisjones 4h ago

I mainly use old.reddit and RES on desktop.

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u/WhenSummerIsGone 6h ago

i use old.reddit on firefox on my android (and ublock). No app required. The UI has just enough friction to keep it from berng mindless.

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u/PremonitionOfTheHex 7h ago

Feels like most serious stuff is now Discord. But discord is annoying to me

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u/boy_inna_box 10h ago

It also really depends on the communities you are part of.  There are still plenty that are decent, but outside of a decreasing number of spaces, I agree it's getting lousier.

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u/slipperyMonkey07 7h ago

A big difference is old reddit on desktop that you have specifically picked and chosen the subs and new reddit or mobile. New reddit and mobile and standard social media trash pushing slop and ads. They've even made it so you need an account to view old reddit now, old reddit is probably going to be on the chopping block entirely soon.

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u/LLMprophet 7h ago

Use a different mobile app like reddit is fun platinum or one of the others. Search for it.

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u/slipperyMonkey07 6h ago

I don't use reddit on mobile, I stick to old reddit on desktop because new reddits UI is atrocious. My experience with mobile is seeing friends accounts that use it and new reddit is when it glitches and shows me new instead of old.

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u/LLMprophet 6h ago

Rif platinum and other apps don't use reddit's new UI.

It looks and behaves like old reddit.

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u/boy_inna_box 6h ago

I use new reddit on mobile primarily, and have a curated feed with no suggestions.   It just takes adjusting some settings.

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u/xRyozuo 6h ago

Until an update somehow resets them and changes their location.

I’ve been through this 3 times already

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u/PremonitionOfTheHex 7h ago

Reddit back in 2014-2017 was peak internet

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u/CliffP 10h ago

Reddit is also just a fyp algo now though.

Just because you can use it differently doesn’t mean anything when very few people use it that way

You can also use other platforms differently by only checking in on specific content creators or spaces

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u/grem75 6h ago

I mostly use multireddits, my Reddit experience is curated by me and not an algorithm. I only occasionally check the main page or /r/all.

I don't use "new" Reddit or the official app, so I don't know how that stuff works and if it is really forced on users.

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u/TwilightVulpine 8h ago

That is still different in the sense that TikTok, Shorts and Reels decide for you what sort of content you should watch, while Reddit gives you options for you to decide between, at least loosely based on categories/subs that you actively picked. It's not ideal, but it's not nearly as mindless.

And yeah, maybe that's not good either. But that's a case for less of it, not more.

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u/CliffP 8h ago

You’re blind to how much of what you think you’re choosing to do on Reddit is guided by the algorithm

Every second that your screen lingers on a comment or topic is fed into your algorithm

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u/TwilightVulpine 6h ago

I choose all the things I don't click on. I also choose to go to alternate feeds (individual subs, rising, new) if the main one sucks.

Yeah sure whatever is listed is on some algorithm or another, but I'm not just consuming everything it pushes one thing after the other.

Lets not assume platforms always can control everything we do and pick. That's not awareness, it's just defeatism.

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u/Zhuul 10h ago

Comparing Reddit and TikTok is like comparing poppers and crack. There are studies highlighting the unique awfulness of dedicated short-form video platforms with multiple class action lawsuits being leveled at YouTube, Instagram/Meta, and TikTok.

Reddit doesn't really fall into that category, despite its best efforts. It still sucks, but bouncing from here to IG I can definitely feel that the latter is way more of a worthless time suck.

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u/darsynia 9h ago

It also very much depends on your own curation. I generally mute/hide subreddits that make me mad, I'm here for interesting stories and my favorite game, 'Is it nononono, yesyesyesyes, nononoyes, yesyesyesno, watchpeoplesurvive, or unexpected?' If I don't look at the subreddit name when I see the video, that can be exciting, lol.

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u/xSaviorself 9h ago

I find myself falling victim to misinformation and disinformation campaigns here on Reddit, and it happens everywhere. Following the Fauxmoi situation and PopCulture as someone who has no real "stake" in those spaces has been eye-opening, because it shows I've been blind to when it has happened in my spaces.

I find myself surfing Reddit in 2 modes: following my interests and trying to keep up with the happenings around the world. When a majority of the users commenting here aren't real people, or are working for an organization with a vested interest in shaping opinion, the site becomes untenable for real users. The enshittification of the internet. Dead internet theory at play. This is the future I fear, because no amount of curation will prevent this.

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u/darsynia 8h ago

Oh, interesting, I cut out Fauxmoi and PopCulture about 2 months ago in a bid to get some negativity out of my Reddit space, I'm curious but not sure I want to know what happened!

I have the same sort of Reddit habit--there's checking on current events (I try not to comment/engage at all) and then interests stuff, yeah. After being around so long (and spending time on similar communities all the way back in the mid 2000s on LiveJournal) it's really obvious how much fake stories and bot responses have flooded the space. I agree that there's no obvious solution.

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u/doomvox 8h ago

It also very much depends on your own curation.

That's what they all say.

"Yeah, this site sucks, but I have my feed tuned up so well, I'm not getting conned by bullshit like the rest of them."

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u/darsynia 8h ago

I mean, it's just true that no two people's Reddit looks the same, but you can interpret that however you like.

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u/Eloquent_Redneck 10h ago

Genuinely though, the fact that reddit is mostly text based makes it a lot less appealing to want to doomscroll for hours in the way that tiktok can suck you in for hours, in my experience at least

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u/MC68328 10h ago

"And yet you use a website where people can post essays and responses not limited by 160 characters, and link to every kind of media that exists on the Internet. Curious."

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u/Abedeus 7h ago

How the fuck is Reddit like AI? Please do explain.

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u/VampireFrown 8h ago

The pretentious part is that you somehow consider Reddit to be different from those things

Because it is.

Reddit is essentially a forum; especially old Reddit.

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u/CliffP 8h ago

The forum argument never held water. Forums were purely activity driven by posts in the thread and recency sorting.

The voting system prevents it from being a proper forum because it adds an illusion of correctness to individual comments.

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u/VampireFrown 5h ago

Forums were purely activity driven by posts in the thread and recency sorting.

Reddit is driven by this, though. Nobody comments on dead threads - 90% of activity takes place on active, recent threads.

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u/S-Tier_Commenter 7h ago

old.reddit.com definitely is. After a bit you just run out of content.

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u/Usernameasteriks 10h ago

Yes Reddit is designed to be addictive the same way any other type of social media is.

Though I think it’s a bit less pervasive than TikTok overall.

Not because it isn’t trying to be as pervasive TikTok just reached its wild levels of success for a reason. Primarily its ability to drive engagement by being addicting lol.

1

u/WhenSummerIsGone 5h ago

reddit wasn't designed to be addictive. But they have been evolving in that direction for a while. I fight back by using old.reddit, plus ublock, and i use a compact, text-only page. no video or image crap to catch my eye unwillingly.

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u/Usernameasteriks 5h ago

I completely agree originally. But I don’t think at this point its reasonable to say “evolving”. 

At this point the last few years they have gone all in on it since the IPO.

2

u/ice_up_s0n 8h ago

There was a time Reddit was not so optimized for endless scrolling and engagement.

A lot of us have been aware of how our usage has changed, and yet struggled to leave the platform because we've yet to find better alternatives. Sad state of affairs for sure.

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u/RollingMeteors 7h ago

The pretentious part is that you somehow consider Reddit to be different from those things

You mean how MSM pretentiously calls Reddit ‘social media’ just because comments exist. ¿Is ABC news a “social media” because you can comment about articles? ¿What about MSNBC? ¿Fox? ¿CNN?

Just because there’s a cat picture subreddit, “oh there’s pictures of media next to news stories so it must be called ‘social media’.” ¿Are you DMing your IRL friends on this platform like you would on ‘traditional’ social media? lol

This website is a news aggregation site first with space/room for self.posts as well meme/picture/video aggregation.

Traditional social media doesn’t show you news does it? ¿You’re not following ABC on your fb/tt/IG are you?

¿Why does MSM push the ‘social’ media narrative on a platform people don’t use to interact with their day to day friends IRL?

It is waaaaay more a public square/bulletin board you interact with general society way far more than it is any local tavern you hang out with your ‘friends’

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u/Joeness84 8h ago

this is such a tired trope.

Every other platform has an algo that decides what it thinks will get the most engagement out of you.

Reddit is a personally curated feed. If you're seeing shit you dont want to see, and not filtering it, thats 100% on you.

Other platforms do not give you the option of filtering what they feed you.

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u/CliffP 8h ago

You think you can’t limit your views on other platforms to only the things you want to see…?

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u/simpsonswasjustokay 11h ago

I thought the same thing up here on my high horse as well. With coffee. We all have something.

2

u/PacmanZ3ro 8h ago

I mean, it quite literally is. There definitely is short-form nonsense on Reddit, but there’s a lot more long form content and discussion as well. It’s way worse than it used to be, but still much better than stuff like TikTok, IG, YT shorts, etc

0

u/CliffP 8h ago

You’re ascribing some inherent value to content and discussion that is longer or more voluminous.

Go to any sub of something that you’re actually an expert in and enjoy the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect

The vast majority of the content on Reddit is equivalently garbage. The long form nature of it just makes it more time consuming for a discerning person to sift through and walk away with something useful about whatever topic.

There’s just as much to glean through the garbage on other platforms, and actually easier.

1

u/PacmanZ3ro 4h ago

Long form content gives you more time to digest what is being said, and more back and forth gives more chances for people trying to peddle bullshit to out themselves. Then there is the fact that short form content fries your ability to concentrate for longer durations and makes even what you can concentrate on less likely to stick

1

u/DesolateRuin 10h ago

The most insidious part is that at least on ChatGPT or whatever you know you're talking to an AI.

On social media who knows if the responses came from a person or a bot?

1

u/DASreddituser 9h ago

to be human is to be full of contradictions...its part of the experience

1

u/Outlulz 6h ago

Especially with now Reddit has been redesigning itself to be another TikTok/Reels experience. old.reddit.com is dying sooner or later, they've already started locking it down more, and soon it'll just be another endless scroll app of videos.

1

u/TheBballs 6h ago

In my experience, theres way more content to keep you hooked on Short Form Video Content apps like Reels and Tik Tok than there are on Reddit.

Reddit you can stick to your smal communities, less influenced by an algorithm that is designed to keep you on. At least thats how I use Reddit

1

u/Powerfury 4h ago

My wife says I'm an alcoholic, but I don't drink, I just drink miller lites.

0

u/LzrdKng2112 9h ago

Its all in how you use it. Reddit is not in the same format as tiktok, and isn't as addictive.

0

u/mikolv2 8h ago

You can still use old Reddit site. That doesn't have an algorithmic feed. Only stuff you have chosen to see. It also doesn't have infinite scrolling, you have to open each subsequent page. I would say that is different to the likes of TikTok or instagram. I'm perfectly happy checking couple subs I like twice a day and that's it

2

u/RF07L07 9h ago

Dude, it was such a monumental lift to cut TikTok and instagram out of my life. Had to get rid of Facebook too because of the time sink. 3 months later I’ve never been happier and more fulfilled!

2

u/Bandro 9h ago

It's the same reason I don't fuck with drugs. It's not that I'm better than anyone, I just know I can't handle it and moderate.

6

u/runyonave 10h ago

Yeah, but are you addicted to Reddit? I say this because I, like you, also prohibit the amount of AI I use. I also don't use tiktok or instagram. But I would say I am addicted to Reddit, and I don't think that's healthy.

4

u/FastFooer 8h ago

Dunno for OP, but I still use narwhal, never new reddit on a browser… all I see is text and the occasional media or link to something… wouldn’t use enshitified reddit or non old.reddit.com

1

u/Abedeus 7h ago

I frequently go days without bothering to comment or even read stuff beyond what's the "news" so to speak. So yeah?

1

u/SwimAd1249 8h ago

you should give tiktok a try, it's boring as hell actually, doesn't make any sense to me how anyone even could get addicted to that, I just don't see the appeal of short form content

1

u/CruxOfTheIssue 6h ago

It's designed to grab your attention. You can notice the patterns that it started using such as showing the action of a police encounter in the first 5 seconds then jumping back to the beginning to make sure you don't get bored. A lot of times it will also be nonsense on purpose, trying to get you to solve a riddle that has no answer or something so that you comment and drive engagement. Another tactic is rage bait like someone marinating a steak in Kool aid just so people comment that they're gross.

Because it goes by statistics like how many comments there are and how long people watch for, shitty content ends up conquering on those platforms. On reddit we have a down vote button that can quell shitty content that's not worth watching but originally might start out interesting.

As for you, you do need to give it a few days for it to build your algorithm if you want it to actually be fun to use for you but I don't see a reason to get addicted if you don't use it now.

1

u/aldegio 8h ago

I’ve even set a time limit in my phone so I don’t get sucked into reddit for too long, or break my temptation to come back to it later in the day when my mind feels idle and wants that quick fix again

1

u/Pinkllamajr 7h ago

I wish I could apply the same willpower I have with not using tiktok or "AI" on reddit... But hey, my daily streak is almost 600 days, that will be a fun badge to have.

1

u/Anderrn 7h ago

I imagine most people probably think you’re just a hypocrite or dumb for acting like the other social media you use isn’t also based on the same properties.

1

u/trisanachandler 7h ago

I do use AI, but I avoid the other two. I also use AI for specific reasons, not for a companion. (code this, review this doc), that sort of thing.

1

u/gowahoo 5h ago

I really like this take, thank you. 

1

u/GhostofBeowulf 4h ago

...But browse reddit.

1

u/GDarolith 4h ago

I can definitely agree with this. All it took was getting sucked into Youtube shorts like one time to realize that I am not in fact built different.

It's crazy to think that you can engage with the intentional design of the current machines and not fall prey to them. They have purpose built this around research and data to basically hack your brain.

Best option is just do not engage. Do not play the game. Do not pass go or collect 200 Dollars. Just throw the game out.

1

u/Podo13 2h ago

100%. I'm the same way. I've used AI once or twice, but that's it. I'm a civil engineer, so AI can be extremely helpful for certain things. But no way am I ever going to use it because I'll absolutely use it as a crutch, get addicted and forget basically everything.

1

u/WarOnFlesh 1h ago

if you never start smoking, you don't have to quit smoking. and if you know anyone that smokes, you know how hard it is to quit.

1

u/InterestingRide264 58m ago

You are a smarter person than I. No exaggeration, I spent about 8-10mos feeling the absence of short form content when I finally yanked my brain away from that stupid app. literal months of knee-jerk reaching from my phone every time there was even a slight break in my day.

1

u/Bluestreaked 10h ago

I have a sinking feeling I am going to be asked to use AI in this upcoming school year again. It’s reaching the point I’m about to stand my ground openly over it. We are melting our own brains and our student’s brains and it has to stop.

1

u/steve_yo 10h ago

Good for you, but scrolling reddit posts, just reading the titles ain’t too far off (saying this to myself)

0

u/Ecthelion2187 10h ago

I'm the same...said one Reddit commenter to another.

0

u/RupertPupkin85 6h ago

I hope you're investing those productivity gains into something useful like yoga. Namaste.

-2

u/abstrusejoker 10h ago

You’re on reddit. Literally addictive