I haven’t really used Reddit over the past 10 years or so, ever since they did the terrible website redesign and started pushing people toward the even-worse app. But I have an account and log in once in a while since it continues to be the best/only place to get semi-human information about products, local issues, whatever.

Anyway, I have been bored lately, so I went on Reddit to get a sense for how much I could sell some old junk for, and have been sucked into the Reddit portal for a few days ever since. They really have the “engagement bait” thing down pretty good. You used to have to curate your home feed by subscribing to subreddits that interest you, but now it recommends related topics based on what you click/read and it’s very easy to get lost in a vortex where it shows you tons and tons of opinions that enrage you in the most relateable way.

Where was I going with this? Well, I share the common opinion that these algorithmic feeds are probably doing something bad for the human soul and on other sites (Tumblr, Twitter back when I did that, Mastodon) I have always aggressively configured the app to show me only things I directly follow. But that was an easier choice to make 10 years ago, when the algorithmic feeds were still kind of bad and would surface a bunch of generically popular stuff (sports, celebrities) that it was easy for me to regard as merely a distraction.

Now, the algorithmic feeds are “good.” Not good as in chicken soup, but good as in, shit, this is a really interesting headline, I just want to read the top comment, that’s it, etc. until 2 hours whirls down the pool. And the truth is, Reddit is unlike other social media sites in that (at least to me) the population on Reddit seems quite “normal.” People don’t have super extreme political beliefs or shape their whole life around one issue the way they do on Tumblr or Twitter, they mostly just complain about every day nuisances such as HOAs and bad customer service.

It’s like … a warm and fuzzy blanket that turns off the critical-thinking part of your brain. Everything that trends on Reddit is so cut and dry, easy to process. Relationship issue? Break up with him.

If I know myself, then I will get bored of this and move onto something else in about a week or so, but it is unsettling to see just how easy it is for a website to turn my brain into mush.