[whstl]

Reddit is much worse than that. Reddit is a shrine to consumerism. It's almost entirely about consuming and buying stuff. Be it expensive computers, headphones, computer games, guitar pedals, modular synths. Or maybe it's about over-consuming bad news from your favorite political bubble, or from your city, or country. But it's a website that makes almost every single community regurgitate the same jokes and memes non-stop to the point it could perhaps be replaced already by ChatGPT.

"Oh but thanks to Reddit I found my dream headphones and I'm finally as happy as I was before finding /r/headphones".

[JackMorgan]

I disagree, by filtering and subscribing carefully, I've learned a tremendous amount from Reddit. There's whole subreddits about history, art, literature, finance, programming, fitness, cooking, and economics. That being said, after awhile I've moved more and more to just reading books instead.

[whstl]

Those are called exceptions.

But on the other hand: even some communities that are seemingly fountains of knowledge, also thrive by having masses of addicted consumers. Sure, it's much better to be addicted to a valid and interesting subject than to something that's harmful. But it's still a form of addiction to spend an excessive amount of time on them, like some people do (yes I am aware not everyone does it).

[api]

You're not wrong but try creating a new account on Reddit and browsing the most popular stuff. It's exactly as the parent describes.

[slothtrop]

Looking at what makes it to r/all, I think it's mostly about tribal political hot air and cute pictures. And then asking the same questions over and over on askreddit.

You can't divorce hobbies from some level of consumerism, half of what you mentioned is related to music. I can't imagine that a high percentage of redditors are interested in modular synths or boutique headphones. I think you have a conclusion in search of evidence, because that's what you think of people.

Notwithstanding that having some interest in specialty products doesn't necessitate that one "over"consumes. Your level of consumption doesn't scale with your subreddit subscriptions.

I don't understand the recreational sneering of consumption by other consumers, but I think the problem we have now is a culture of passive consumption (tv, social media, this site) rather than biasing towards action. Action doesn't preclude purchases.

[dotnet00]

>It's almost entirely about consuming and buying stuff. Be it expensive computers, headphones, computer games, guitar pedals, modular synths

These are only an issue if your view on them is shallow enough that you think they exist merely for the purpose of buying more expensive things.

[BoxOfRain]

I have a complicated relationship with Reddit but it really depends on what you're subscribed to I think. A lot of the direction you're nudged in is consumerist rubbish and the whole platform has enough crappy astroturf to build a country's worth of poor quality football pitches, but if you're very careful about what subs you subscribe to and are diligent at blocking what you dislike it can be a useful platform.

I'd drop it in a heartbeat for the old, slightly janky PHP forums it ate though.