For me it’s input. I have a continually thinking mind that feels that I must have something to say on anything. Whenever I’ve gotten rid of a Reddit account or took even a day or two off from activity on the internet. I had an itch to say something whenever something is reported or something I’ve seen while browsing that peaked my interest.
And I feel I have to say something on it, even if small. But yet I try to restrain myself from doing so because of how manufactured social media has become today.
It’s gotten a little better, mainly because you know, after registering so many accounts for so long and having to upkeep so many. It is tiring to do for me so I think I’m finally slowing down from that to where this issue won’t nearly be as big as it once was.
Well I haven’t dropped social media entirely because….I’m here. But about 2 years ago I got completely off of FB…I had been off Instagram for a while, never did TikTok and rarely used Twitter or chat style social media. I cancelled my Reddit account during the API thing and came here…but still occasionally lurk without an account there. And the reason is this…what I really miss is other people’s thoughts. Sane, crazy, silly, angry…whatever. I love to learn random facts, I love to watch a tv show and see what everyone else thinks, and I like reading what the average person thinks about world news and yes, even politics (though I always keep in mind that bots and trolls are a thing). I liked it on Reddit because if I read something that seemed off to me, it wasn’t connected to the face of my beloved Aunt, or well intentioned but batty mother. It was a face in the crowd but it was a way to find out thoughts from people outside my bubble.
Podcasts are helping because a lot are run by just normal people…so I get a bit of a “fix” there. But I love watching something or reading a random book and then just searching it on Reddit to see what other people thought. I really hope one day Lemmy grows enough to fulfill that for me. It’s getting closer for sure.