I still use reddit from time to time, but I find the stuff i find here is of higher quality and more thoughtful. I would use Lemmy exclusively if it had all of the communities that i frequent on reddit, many of the things on here are tech-related and most things outside of the tech world don't pop up in my feed. I feel I engage more, use more and actually learn more from Lemmy so overall I am quite impressed!
Used to be a powermod on reddit. Got banned. Kinda miss fucking with shitters but beyond that I enjoy the extra time each day to do literally anything else.
Probably because of the instance I happened to join (for entirely accidental reasons), I can feel myself being pulled in to an information bubble for sure and that is to a subtle extent influencing and perhaps hardening my pre-existing views about the world at large. I don't think that's a good thing exactly, though I'm not sure it's entirely bad as before I'd just kind of given up thinking about a lot of that stuff since my early 20s when I had to start focussing on other things and it's more like a return to form. I'm, perhaps misguidedly, okayish with this development because this bubble, this biased lens is so stark that I feel like it's hopefully less easy to end up being totally subsumed (maybe I'm just telling myself that). Of course, like everyone's favourite kind of bubbles, it's obviously one that's reinforcing of my own tendencies anyway, the folks here just take it a far greater extreme in rhetoric, to an extent seeing the kind of blind anger and mechanical doctrinaire response to even the most tangentially related of topics has kind helped me see where my stop is on that train of thought. Another way it's influenced me has been to strengthen my existing preference and respect for FOSS software and I think being here is gradually increasing this preference and will likely result in even greater adoption on my part.
I think it’s laudable to be aware of when we are only surrounding ourselves with like-minded people, but I also wouldn’t put too much stock in this Internet narrative that there is some morality to “avoiding echo chambers” or whatever.
You should always introduce yourself to a diverse range of (valid) opinions and ideas. But it is also OK to have spaces that are reserved for people that make you comfortable/are more like-minded. We do this in our daily lives too. The internet isn’t some sacrosanct space where we have to be engaged with people we disagree with constantly.
It’s the difference between a support community for LGBT people, and /r/conservative. The former is good and healthy, the latter is toxic and distorting.
I do miss reddit a reasonable amount, especially for niche subs. I do definitely appreciate Lemmy though, and often it feels like I'm actually having conversations instead of screaming into the void like on other platforms.
It made me realize that other people use Linux and gave me hope for the future of technology, then made me disappointed in how narrow sighted they are when it comes to political views
I still lurk hard on Reddit, but either use a LibReddit redirect extension on both my Desktop and Phone, or I just use Stealth to keep track of Communities on my phone. I just don't post anymore.
This is mainly for research into niche topics or to see if a technical question I have has been asked on Reddit before, which oftentimes it has. I just try to not give Spez a record of my traffic, hence the alternative front ends (as well as using a VPN and blocking JS).
I come to Lemmy to Read/Debate Politics, talk Linux, Privacy, or the Fediverse, as well as occasionally get advice on a topic or two. One TV show I like has a consistent poster in their community, which I'm extremely grateful for.
Another poster here pointed out that the decentralized nature of Lemmy works against it for discover ability, which I generally agree with. I can't type in "question Google should be able to answer but not anymore? lemmy" into duckduckgo lite and get any kind of result like I would if I replaced "lemmy" with "reddit". I'd love that, but it's just not possible right now. So I still lurk via libreddit and stealth.
I was ready for a fediverse reddit since i had been on mastodon since 2019. The threads here just work better for me than the microblogging style. I used mastodon sometimes and reddit every day. Now i use lemmy every day, mastodon sometimes, and reddit only when i absolutely must.
I contribute far more now. I already have more posts on Lemmy in nine months than I did in all of the 10-ish years I was on Reddit. My rate of commenting is about the same.
I've also changed the way I get my news; I went retro and use RSS feeds now. I do fear there's a risk of over-curation with a minimum of sources leading to narrow viewpoints. Even Reddit's news bubble was more expansive than what I've got coming in. But my feeds and Lemmy's bubble are what I've got for now.
Lemmy simply hasn't been enough content. I still use Lemmy (obviously, I'm here) but I also supplement with other places.
For example, I used to enjoy the sub for one of my favorite sports teams. A lot of posts tended to be articles from the same handful of news outlets. Now instead of reading through Reddit I just have that website up and routinely check for new articles.
I use the Google News app occasionally. It usually sucks.
I also use Instagram a lot more. I only reluctantly downloaded it and created an account because my wife and a few friends wanted to send me things. Then I used it more when my band released an EP as a way to promote that. For pure entertainment rather than informational purposes, I usually go to Lemmy first and exhaust what is good quickly, then go to Instagram after.
I know it sucks. I don't like having an app from Meta on my phone. I know it can become an unhealthy habit. But I also drink and eat junk food, so there you go.