On learning that Reddit isn't that weird after all.
I downloaded the Reddit app and it all went uphill from there.
My relationship with all my social media accounts is a complex but not an individual one; I both love and hate them, and yet I know that I’m not the only one who feels this way. Social media brings me both joy and dread. Even here, on Substack, where you are likely reading this, can be considered a social platform; bringing thousands of writers, readers and creators alike, together to take space within a world of words and ideas that they love. And I can confidently say, I love it here, and yet, having access to so many people’s thoughts and feelings at the swipe of a thumb feels at times dreadful in a way that I cannot fully explain.
In this cocktail of joy and dread, I stumble upon Reddit. As a veteran 29 year old internet user, I admit I have been on Reddit in the past, sparingly, and usually only because the specific thing I was searching for on Google came with a Reddit post high up on the search results. I believed Reddit was only a platform for the most depraved among us; incels, stans, people who love gossip more than is widely accepted and just general losers. I believed it to be a place where those people congregate, doxx their enemies and just fester in their weirdness as a collective. I seldom ever spent more than 3 minutes on a post reading the comments because I felt as though I was losing braincells as every second went by. But I was wrong.
My foray into Reddit began earlier this summer when I was trying to find an answer to a burning question I had had for a while: how many of the couples on Dr Orna’s Couples Therapy are still together? TikTok usually has the answers to most of my niche pop culture questions, but alas, this time it could not help. I turned to Google and first on the search results, below the sponsored posts, was a Reddit thread full of 100s of people who had the same question as me but most impressively, had the answers. A new fan was born.
To say that I downloaded the app shortly after this and spend 20% of my previous TikTok doom scrolling hours in and out of book, writing, tv shows, AITAH, confessions, relationship advice, long form articles, podcast and more, Reddit groups would be an understatement. I have discovered a world of conversation, recommendations and new ideas never before seen (by me). Any and every minor and major concept is discussed, from asking if you should leave your partner because they fart in public, to asking for advice on how to navigate the shit storm that is the London housing crisis, seemingly everything goes there. Of course, the weirdos that I once feared still exist just like on every public platform, but they’re easy to avoid if you yourself are not kin to that behaviour.
To my core, I am a woman that loves discussion, critical thinking, discourse, conversation, new ideas and I loathe anti intellectualism. Any way I can share thoughts and opinions that no one asked for, flex the critical side of my brain and feel validated when someone recommends I book I love to a stranger, I will take it. On my iPhone home screen, the Reddit and Substack apps are placed right next to each other. This is mostly a coincidence as I downloaded them a few days apart but I actually see it as indicative of my love of words and writing. Maybe it’s my gnawing fatigue of visual based content that has driven me to this place, or maybe it’s something else completely. Whatever it is, I’m glad it made me push past my preconceptions of the world of Reddit and allowed me to enjoy the thoughts and opinions of strangers before the inevitable dread kicks in.
Until next time x