The thought of this triggers my anxiety. I’m so glad Lemmy exist, but what if Lemmy didn’t. What would the world look like?
probably just use Reddit via the browser, a lot less than I normally would
No lemmy, no mastodon? Uuuhh…back to IRC, some forum maybe.
PS: Element looks like a pretty good FOSS alternative to discord.
Most likely kbin.
If we’re talking about a timeline where the Fediverse was never created, then I’d probably just be on Twitch for socializing and RSS feeds for news.
If the thought of a social media platform not existing gives you anxiety then I think you need to take a break from it. I don’t know you or your life but I don’t think spending a lot of time on these platforms is mentally healthy regardless.
Anxiety as in some organization is having control over the free flow of information. The same anxiety as in the thought of certain countries censoring the internet. Not as in a social media addiction, although I’ll have to admit I do have some addiction to Reddit/Lemmy. But it’s more of the fear of the future. Reddit was probably one of the biggest platforms that doesn’t have censorship as much as other platforms (or at least that’s how I perceived it), Reddit becoming tyrannical means people lose the last “free” platform. This means people in the future now have a different worldview. I mean Reddit already doesn’t allow criticism of Steve Huffman, they might as well start pushing political agendas he favors, like pro-corporate, anti-consumer views. Even if I wasn’t addicted to social media, a lot other will be. Lemmy being a competitor allowed some people to leave Reddit and not be subjected to propaganda.
Maybe I do need to touch grass lol, I’m getting a bit paranoid about evil corporations.
I’d be getting banned from commenting on YouTube for calling bullies “assholes” and telling them I hope they get terminal herpes.
For real.
Look at the comment section under some random news story and you find either comments about Hunter Biden, comments supporting racism/slavery, comments promoting Marxism-Lennism, comments spreading religion, conspiracy theories, comments complaining about youtube censorship, even thought your racist ass comment is still up there for over a year. Like who even wants to look at youtube comments.
Saw a study the other day that estimated that in 2021 about 45% of internet traffic was bots. Don’t believe every comment you read is someone who believes what they are saying either. There’s been a few cases of troll farms of people getting paid to push trash opinions. When an ideology can’t defend itself with reason they start screaching.
A big problem with this is that since 2016 the bots and hired commenters have thoroughly poisoned the intellectual well. What used to be considered extreme in 2016 was so artificially boosted that now real people have completely bought into the bullshit.
Someone will make a Lemmy analog or an existing system will take its place. There’s bound to be someone taking the opportunity to fill the vacuum.
There’s always alternatives.
And if there aren’t, they arise.
I’ve always played with reddit alternative ideas too. But finding time and commitment is an issue.
Tildes is nice, just a bit quieter and fewer beans.
On reddit but only on desktop with old.reddit extension.
Probably Raddle.me. it seems like a somewhat privacy focused version of Reddit that has their terms of service has a section against bigotry and far right ideology.
Unfortunately there isn’t a mobile app though.
I’d have gone with a Kbin server. Lemmy just happened to fit more what I like in Reddit and its interface. The servers I mainly interact with seem calm and healthy enough and I get to see fun posts, shared articles and handfuls of discussions here and there. If there was no alternative? I’d just have moved on. Either federated social networks (Or something similar, one day) thrive, or social networks are all bound to gradually become pits of hostility no one wants to or can moderate. Just takes a single rich idiot looking to capitalize on his “product” to tip the scale in the wrong direction. I like connecting with people, having calm conversations about low-stake stuff with strangers. Keeping the heavier stuff for those I know and understand. Hasn’t been possible in places like Twitter for ages and if the smaller, chill subreddits I like are all bound to see more spam and negativity? Pass. I’d just get back to reading novels regularly. Which I still should, honestly.
I’d probably be doing my job
Honestly I was pretty done with Reddit besides like 2 subs when the shutdown happened so I probably would’ve just stopped.
(That’s assuming no other sites would take Lemmy’s place as most popular)
Cold and dark under the looming shadow of reddit
Probably squabbles.io
I use that too, so yeah that’d be what I’d be using as a main replacement.
