On the few occasions I've talked to 20-25 year olds about Reddit and they happen to know about old.reddit.com, they're like "Wow that looks dated. And boring."

On the few occasions I've talked to 20-25 year olds about Reddit and they happen to know about old.reddit.com, they're like "Wow that looks dated. And boring." All the other sites that young people actually use (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube) look like the new Reddit version, and these sites are actually getting new users organically. Given that, I think it's fair to say that jank, autoplaying videos, and constant pop-ups are in. I'll chalk this up to "Kids these days." I'm of similar vintage to you, maybe a few years younger. I don't really like this trend either, and use old.reddit.com when I can. But you and I don't matter. Our consumption habits are already set, and realistically a start-up (particularly a mass media one) that we don't already patronize isn't going to get them. Businesses battle over the margins, the customers who don't already have buying habits, and fight aggressively to get them.