How to overcome the temptation to social media? (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) by deadymouse@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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How can you give up the comforts, the ability to find someone who understands your tastes perfectly, even if they're very niche and you always have something to talk about what you like, the ability to find the perfect partner, the perfect content to consume, and so on?

Six months ago, I tried to get rid of social media, but something got the better of me again, I was lonely and bored, also after looking in detail at what is happening in the world, I wanted to stick my head in the sand, and I came back, I was scrolling through the Reddit feed again, liking, trying to connect with people, creating discussions about something. You can even notice from the style of the text in this post that there is something wrong with me. I'm a little degraded, and so pathetic.

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[-] Bougie_Birdie@piefed.blahaj.zone 6 points 6 hours ago

For me, it was switching to Lemmy as my exclusive source of social media. On reddit you could doomscroll all day and barely scratch the surface of available content. On Lemmy you've got like an hour max before you run into yesterday's posts. It's like quitting smoking by switching to nicotine gum.

It also helped that reddit is run by absolute scumbags and I was part of the exodus during the API-pocalypse. Not using reddit became a moral stance, and I'm far less compromising of my principles than my vices.

Maybe this is a bit more of my personal situation than your problem, but I have wicked social anxiety. I was on reddit for ten years and left maybe five comments. The community on the fediverse is so much smaller that it feels easier to get into and form a more meaningful connection. People seem to be friendlier, and while you do run into the odd person who's violently intractable, their population is also much smaller than reddit.

And to further bash reddit and mainstream social media: the bot users, the doctored algorithms, sponsored content, and relentless advertising - they're all extremely manipulative and show no respect for you as a human being. We all deserve better than that.

You aren't pathetic Little Mouse. You're a little mouse and you're dealing with big shit - the weight of the world is crushing. If I may, I'd advise you to stop chasing the perfect content and learn to appreciate and contribute to what you already have. Way easier said than done, but it's said with love

this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026

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