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It’s also much more positive. If I spend 20 minutes on TikTok I usually laugh and smile a few times. And regularly I’m impressed at human creativity. 20 minu

It’s also much more positive. If I spend 20 minutes on TikTok I usually laugh and smile a few times. And regularly I’m impressed at human creativity. 20 minutes on Instagram or Facebook is usually either boring or leaves me comparing myself to others. 20 minutes on YouTube and I feel like I’ve watched 10 minutes of ads and 10 minutes of fluff. 20 minutes on Reddit and I hate the world.

slohr 5y ago
this! TikTok regularly leaves me inspired, and across many different creative realms: Amazing makeup, mindblowing parkour, beautiful original music and eye opening covers. Oh and some of the short comedy sketches have left me thoroughly incapacitated due to laughter. The list goes on for me. In general, I'm happier after viewing, even when the "you should stop watching too much TikTok guy" comes on.
arsome 5y ago
Yeah, no kidding with that reddit one, every time I go there I feel like everyone is just in constant fear or anger, especially going to subreddits for my city/state. I've near completely stopped using it due to this. Now I just spend way too much time on YouTube instead. It may be a terrible waste of time, but at least it's less angry and fearful.
- the_only_law 5y ago
  > every time I go there I feel like everyone is just in constant fear or anger Hell, HN feels like this often.
  - fshbbdssbbgdd 5y ago
    I think about this post a lot: https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most_of_what_you_read_on_the_internet_is_written/ https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most...
- code_duck 5y ago
  Regional subs are the worst, for whatever reason. My theory is it's because they bring together people with nothing in common besides their geographic location. Even subs that should be neutral, fun or supportive have attitude problems. One about a game I'm playing, for instance, consists mainly of dramatic complaints with a feeling of impending doom.
  - oehpr 5y ago
    Topic Subreddits tend to be joyful, but there are things that can turn communities very toxic. It could be the demographic the topic appeals to. It could be that some moderation decision for the subreddit is festering and creating a lot of hurt feelings. It could be that there's some underlying issue that the community is uncomfortable with, or divisive, and a loud minority are dominating the discussion. I have two examples of this from otherwise extremely positive communities. /r/factorio and /r/satisfactory (same genra, but I like this genre) /r/factorio initially had no issue with self promotion of videos and series. This caused a ton of consternation and all kinds of other subjects turned very very negative. Moderators created another subreddit dedicated for self promotion of series, and the community stayed angry about everything for about 2 months, before things regressed to /r/factorio's mean, which was very positive. I saw a similar thing happen in /r/satisfactory. Before the game was released people on the subreddit had nothing to talk about for the most part, and satisfactory announced that it was going to be epic exclusive for 6 months before release. Given that many people really hated Epic, and because we didn't actually get to play the game, anything that didn't talk about the Epic exclusivity, was subject to the conversation. Eventually moderators placed dedicated threads for epic exclusivity discussion but still, the whole subreddits tone was extremely vitriolic. Even on things that didn't have anything to do with Epic Exclusivity. Then the game released. And that toxic discussion was totally wiped out by people actually playing the game. The subreddits snapped to positive tone instantly.
- zacharycohn 5y ago
  Then unsubscribe from the subreddits that cause you angst and subscribe to subreddits that you enjoy.
- belorn 5y ago
  Most times I read reddit it is either in context of diving or a video game. Neither make me want to hate the world. In particular, the rim world subreddit is great. That kind of game makes for a lot of crazy situations, and much of it is captured there. When games has game breaking bugs, reddit is often a common search results with people discussing it and providing solutions. In many way it serve the same purpose for gaming as stackoverflow does for programming. Is this just because the way I am reading reddit, or the subject matter?
bredren 5y ago
Reddit is wonderful compared to Next Door. Next Door's feed is pure trigger content and quickly escalated arguments. Super toxic.
- Dah00n 5y ago
  Something more toxic than reddit? I have only seen it in sites that start as "free-speech reddit clones". Outside those I find it hard to believe anything can be more toxic than Reddit. Unless you digg really deep into niche subs even Facebook is better.
MisterTea 5y ago
Spending 20 minutes in any of those apps is 20 minutes you didn't do something productive. None of them are good for you.
- arsome 5y ago
  I don't think it's reasonable to expect people to be doing productive things 24x7. You're going to want a break at some point.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  I have learned something valuable from reading something on Reddit or watching a how to video or explanation video on youtube.
- WitCanStain 5y ago
  I could also just drink Huel and save an hour a day not eating but I don't because I like eating.
- amznthrwaway 5y ago
  So says a guy with 1,000 comments on Hacker News.
- Dah00n 5y ago
  “The time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time” - John Lennon
- dmitriy_ko 5y ago
  I learned a lot from watching YouTube. I was able to complete many home improvement projects based on DIY videos. And learned about many different subjects: history, science, engineering. I probably learned more from YouTube than from books. I do have YouTube Premium subscription so I don't need to watch ads — makes a big difference.
LeifCarrotson 5y ago
How do you feel after 20 minutes on HN? Also, what subreddits/communmities are you in on Reddit that make you hate the world after 20 minutes? Are you on /r/popular or /r/all, or filtered down to your niche interests?
- Dah00n 5y ago
  HN is mostly like a good day on Facebook but once in awhile it transcends every other social media. IMO it is going downhill fast though and the really good discussions are getting drowned out by China hate, nationalism, brand loyalty, etc. more often than not. All in all 30 minutes of Tiktok is likely to make me smile a lot more than HN but then there's not any real discussions so hard to compare the two. All of Reddit makes me hate the world. No sub doesn't. If it does just visit it one or two times more and bingo.
  - chihuahua 5y ago
    I've found the following to be free of negativity: r/bread r/oatmeal r/RICE r/nutrition r/velo r/Zwift
- moonchrome 5y ago
  HN is still relatively balanced, but I see a lot more reddit style comments. Usually 20 min on HN I find nothing really new, tons of polarizing topics, discussions are decent but ultimately pointless, I really feel like I need to take a break. Even niche reddit communities end up being full of newbies and self promotion spam. There are exceptions (/r/steroids comes to mind back when I was into that) but programming/tech subreddits are just noise.
  - trenning 5y ago
    r/steroids used to be great but the pandemic really turned it toxic imo. Pandemic made so many subs polarized and awful to read. everything was trending negative before but now it's another level feels like.
- rchaud 5y ago
drewg123 5y ago
For YT, try a client like NewPipe or SmartTubeNext that can be configured with adbock & sponsor block, and which is less "in your face" about suggesting/autoplaying rabbit-hole content.
- arcturus17 5y ago
  How do they pull of this off? I’m assuming Google would defend aggressively against these type of clients.
  - j-james 5y ago
    Considering NewPipe isn't available in the Play Store or at all on iOS, I'd imagine the number of people using it is small enough that Google doesn't care too much. Technology-wise, NewPipe builds off of the back of youtube-dl and a custom page parser, and SponsorBlock uses a user-built database of timestamps.
Lendal 5y ago
It only takes a few bad-faith actors to infect, exploit and ruin a platform. Give it time. They will figure out how to ruin TikTok, too.
majkinetor 5y ago
Specialized reddits about programming topics, drugs, do it yourself stuff etc are quite good TBH. People are much more helpful then on some other popular places such as Stack Exchange in my opinion which hoards achievement people which do not generally answer unless there is a chance they will get a vote or something. Mainstream reddits could be junk ..
keewee7 5y ago
reddit and twitter are the most depressing places on the Internet. So much doomerism and political outrage. It's on TikTok too but the TikTok algorithm quickly learns I'm not interested in political outrage and actually directs me toward content I'm interested in.
baby 5y ago
I don't understand all the "it's more positive" comments here. It's almost seems like FUD to me. The times I used TikTok I just got so absorbed in it that I wasted hours of my life just scrolling endlessly consuming brainless content. I don't know how that was a positive experience compared to consuming a more thoughtful video on youtube, for example.
deckard1 5y ago
so they built a better filter bubble for you. Brave New World had Soma and we have TikTok. I'm not sure humans, flesh and blood, should be handing control of our emotional state to corporations with highly-tuned algorithms.

slohr 5y ago

this! TikTok regularly leaves me inspired, and across many different creative realms: Amazing makeup, mindblowing parkour, beautiful original music and eye opening covers. Oh and some of the short comedy sketches have left me thoroughly incapacitated due to laughter. The list goes on for me. In general, I'm happier after viewing, even when the "you should stop watching too much TikTok guy" comes on.

arsome 5y ago

Yeah, no kidding with that reddit one, every time I go there I feel like everyone is just in constant fear or anger, especially going to subreddits for my city/state. I've near completely stopped using it due to this. Now I just spend way too much time on YouTube instead. It may be a terrible waste of time, but at least it's less angry and fearful.

the_only_law 5y ago
> every time I go there I feel like everyone is just in constant fear or anger Hell, HN feels like this often.
- fshbbdssbbgdd 5y ago
  I think about this post a lot: https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most_of_what_you_read_on_the_internet_is_written/ https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most...
code_duck 5y ago
Regional subs are the worst, for whatever reason. My theory is it's because they bring together people with nothing in common besides their geographic location. Even subs that should be neutral, fun or supportive have attitude problems. One about a game I'm playing, for instance, consists mainly of dramatic complaints with a feeling of impending doom.
- oehpr 5y ago
  Topic Subreddits tend to be joyful, but there are things that can turn communities very toxic. It could be the demographic the topic appeals to. It could be that some moderation decision for the subreddit is festering and creating a lot of hurt feelings. It could be that there's some underlying issue that the community is uncomfortable with, or divisive, and a loud minority are dominating the discussion. I have two examples of this from otherwise extremely positive communities. /r/factorio and /r/satisfactory (same genra, but I like this genre) /r/factorio initially had no issue with self promotion of videos and series. This caused a ton of consternation and all kinds of other subjects turned very very negative. Moderators created another subreddit dedicated for self promotion of series, and the community stayed angry about everything for about 2 months, before things regressed to /r/factorio's mean, which was very positive. I saw a similar thing happen in /r/satisfactory. Before the game was released people on the subreddit had nothing to talk about for the most part, and satisfactory announced that it was going to be epic exclusive for 6 months before release. Given that many people really hated Epic, and because we didn't actually get to play the game, anything that didn't talk about the Epic exclusivity, was subject to the conversation. Eventually moderators placed dedicated threads for epic exclusivity discussion but still, the whole subreddits tone was extremely vitriolic. Even on things that didn't have anything to do with Epic Exclusivity. Then the game released. And that toxic discussion was totally wiped out by people actually playing the game. The subreddits snapped to positive tone instantly.
zacharycohn 5y ago
Then unsubscribe from the subreddits that cause you angst and subscribe to subreddits that you enjoy.
belorn 5y ago
Most times I read reddit it is either in context of diving or a video game. Neither make me want to hate the world. In particular, the rim world subreddit is great. That kind of game makes for a lot of crazy situations, and much of it is captured there. When games has game breaking bugs, reddit is often a common search results with people discussing it and providing solutions. In many way it serve the same purpose for gaming as stackoverflow does for programming. Is this just because the way I am reading reddit, or the subject matter?

bredren 5y ago

Reddit is wonderful compared to Next Door. Next Door's feed is pure trigger content and quickly escalated arguments. Super toxic.

Dah00n 5y ago
Something more toxic than reddit? I have only seen it in sites that start as "free-speech reddit clones". Outside those I find it hard to believe anything can be more toxic than Reddit. Unless you digg really deep into niche subs even Facebook is better.

MisterTea 5y ago

Spending 20 minutes in any of those apps is 20 minutes you didn't do something productive. None of them are good for you.

arsome 5y ago
I don't think it's reasonable to expect people to be doing productive things 24x7. You're going to want a break at some point.
lotsofpulp 5y ago
I have learned something valuable from reading something on Reddit or watching a how to video or explanation video on youtube.
WitCanStain 5y ago
I could also just drink Huel and save an hour a day not eating but I don't because I like eating.
amznthrwaway 5y ago
So says a guy with 1,000 comments on Hacker News.
Dah00n 5y ago
“The time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time” - John Lennon
dmitriy_ko 5y ago
I learned a lot from watching YouTube. I was able to complete many home improvement projects based on DIY videos. And learned about many different subjects: history, science, engineering. I probably learned more from YouTube than from books. I do have YouTube Premium subscription so I don't need to watch ads — makes a big difference.

LeifCarrotson 5y ago

How do you feel after 20 minutes on HN? Also, what subreddits/communmities are you in on Reddit that make you hate the world after 20 minutes? Are you on /r/popular or /r/all, or filtered down to your niche interests?

Dah00n 5y ago
HN is mostly like a good day on Facebook but once in awhile it transcends every other social media. IMO it is going downhill fast though and the really good discussions are getting drowned out by China hate, nationalism, brand loyalty, etc. more often than not. All in all 30 minutes of Tiktok is likely to make me smile a lot more than HN but then there's not any real discussions so hard to compare the two. All of Reddit makes me hate the world. No sub doesn't. If it does just visit it one or two times more and bingo.
- chihuahua 5y ago
  I've found the following to be free of negativity: r/bread r/oatmeal r/RICE r/nutrition r/velo r/Zwift
moonchrome 5y ago
HN is still relatively balanced, but I see a lot more reddit style comments. Usually 20 min on HN I find nothing really new, tons of polarizing topics, discussions are decent but ultimately pointless, I really feel like I need to take a break. Even niche reddit communities end up being full of newbies and self promotion spam. There are exceptions (/r/steroids comes to mind back when I was into that) but programming/tech subreddits are just noise.
- trenning 5y ago
  r/steroids used to be great but the pandemic really turned it toxic imo. Pandemic made so many subs polarized and awful to read. everything was trending negative before but now it's another level feels like.
rchaud 5y ago

drewg123 5y ago

For YT, try a client like NewPipe or SmartTubeNext that can be configured with adbock & sponsor block, and which is less "in your face" about suggesting/autoplaying rabbit-hole content.

arcturus17 5y ago
How do they pull of this off? I’m assuming Google would defend aggressively against these type of clients.
- j-james 5y ago
  Considering NewPipe isn't available in the Play Store or at all on iOS, I'd imagine the number of people using it is small enough that Google doesn't care too much. Technology-wise, NewPipe builds off of the back of youtube-dl and a custom page parser, and SponsorBlock uses a user-built database of timestamps.

Lendal 5y ago

It only takes a few bad-faith actors to infect, exploit and ruin a platform. Give it time. They will figure out how to ruin TikTok, too.

majkinetor 5y ago

Specialized reddits about programming topics, drugs, do it yourself stuff etc are quite good TBH. People are much more helpful then on some other popular places such as Stack Exchange in my opinion which hoards achievement people which do not generally answer unless there is a chance they will get a vote or something. Mainstream reddits could be junk ..

keewee7 5y ago

reddit and twitter are the most depressing places on the Internet. So much doomerism and political outrage. It's on TikTok too but the TikTok algorithm quickly learns I'm not interested in political outrage and actually directs me toward content I'm interested in.

baby 5y ago

I don't understand all the "it's more positive" comments here. It's almost seems like FUD to me. The times I used TikTok I just got so absorbed in it that I wasted hours of my life just scrolling endlessly consuming brainless content. I don't know how that was a positive experience compared to consuming a more thoughtful video on youtube, for example.

deckard1 5y ago

so they built a better filter bubble for you. Brave New World had Soma and we have TikTok. I'm not sure humans, flesh and blood, should be handing control of our emotional state to corporations with highly-tuned algorithms.