> To quit Reddit, I wanted the Pavlok to deliver a painful shock every time I visited Reddit<p>That's a bit...extreme.<p>Fortunately Reddit is doing a great job diminishing its own usability. When Reddit enables their paid API and locks out 3rd party clients in the process, there will be greater friction to browse. When they eventually kill old.reddit.com that'll be the nail in the coffin.
If you're struggling with social media addiction, I would recommend deleting the native apps off your phone. The better, smoother UX and faster response time reduces any and all friction. I find that when I have to use the mobile sites, I can't stand them so I naturally want to leave. Reddit's mobile site is a dumpster fire so it's perfect for wanting to keep your sessions short. Instagram's is similar. Sadly, Twitter's is pretty good so that won't work there. Another thing is to turn off all notifications (for the apps that do remain).<p>This has been massively effective for me for weaning off Reddit and Instagram. My phone usage (basically perfectly correlated with all non-productive screen time) has dropped by a solid 50% and has remained that way for 2+ years now.
Meh, Reddit is a boring platform outside of your personal interests. I myself follow only one subreddit and check maybe other 4-5 for news/updates, but none of these are in the top 1000, maybe not even top 10,000 subreddits. I find Reddit culture to be bland and uninspiring.<p>Even technical/niche subreddits get absolutely run over by "noobs" and people who have too many questions but too little patience to do research for themselves. And comments on Reddit are beyond bland - they might as well adopt a slogan of "The Parrot Club" at this point.<p>My point being, Reddit is likely the easiest platform to give up because it never provided any value/intrigue in the first place.
Similar to how building a new Wal-mart kills off many small local businesses (pharmacies, markets, shoes stores...) in the area, I lament how reddit has nearly monopolized the <i>topic-based conversation and discovery platform</i> space.<p>I'm old, so my route there is roughly: Dial-up BBS's -> usenet -> various web forums -> slashdot -> fark -> digg -> reddit. So I've experience the best and the worst of it all, and I'm not sure that reddit represents <i>the best</i>. I do not believe that they wield their [immense] power in a responsible or trustworthy manner.<p>I'm very curious to see what comes after reddit.
A few months back, I had my account of ten years banned for something I never bothered looking into. I've used the site probably a dozen times since then, using site:reddit.com.<p>Reddit was as close as I got to social media, and it sucked. The longer I spend apart from it, the more alien and irrational the ideas seem. People repeating themselves over and over in every thread, all it takes is one prompt for the conversations to derail - it's like a poorly tuned 7B LLM.<p>I knew it was "awful", but I guess I'd developed an immunity to it. They're doing future models a great service by limiting their API.
<i>> I came across the Pavlok in 2018. The Pavlok is a wrist-watch that delivers a shock. The device had the right cyberpunk and biohacking vibes to catch my attention. It was primarily marketed for smoking cessation: every time you felt the impulse to smoke, you’d press the device and it would deliver a shock.</i><p>Reminds me of the James Woods segment of this movie: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_Eye_(1985_film)#.22Quitters.2C_Inc..22" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_Eye_(1985_film)#.22Qui...</a>
LeechBlock is surpisingly effective for me.<p>I block all time sinks during working hours with an exception of 2 minutes every 4 hours to quickly check whether the world is ending. My productivity has skyrocketed.
Wow! I just blocked Reddit at the router and that did the trick. HN is probably next, but every now and then there is a neat article about APL or Forth that I’m happy to have seen. I suppose I could just block the comments.
The problem for me is that subreddits have taken over from traditional forums. I have a handful of topics/interests I browse a subreddit for because it's the biggest community for that topic.<p>I hate it and I hate reddit- it's a fucking cringy place full of arrogant twerps that post know it all comments that leave no room for any conversation, or just people trying to be witty. (normally the top 5 comments are these)<p>I'd love a return to phpbb forums for everything.
I quit reddit in a day without the threat of electric shocks. I just deleted my 15+ year old account. I occasionally go manually in and read some comments... not missing it at all. It turned out it was just a bad habit.
i don't think the author is the source of this post, but i am amused at posting this article on what is, in effect, a niche subreddit. codebase may not be the same, but the UX is, well, rather similar
Reddit is better than FB and most other forums WRT readings posts that interest me about my hobbies: music & guitar playing, photography, and motorcycling.<p>There are hobby-specific online communities, but frankly, those don't appear as healthy and having as much interest.<p>Obviously YMMV.