Smugness is definitely a problem on Reddit, but I think in the case of Hacker News you’re often dealing with older guys who grew up on either traditional forums or BBS. When you try to tell them that what they are doing is also social media, they reject it because they associate it with the networks that emerged from around 2005 to 2010, which they perceive as vapid owing to the emphasis on image over text.
I’ve always got the sense that this perception was a big reason why Redditors seem to hate Instagram so much. The algorithm does occasionally do some unpleasant things, but 90% of the time it’s great. When I read about people comparing their lives to others and becoming depressed I can’t help but feel like the app might not be the problem.
I’ve always got the sense that this perception was a big reason why Redditors seem to hate Instagram so much. The algorithm does occasionally do some unpleasant things, but 90% of the time it’s great. When I read about people comparing their lives to others and becoming depressed I can’t help but feel like the app might not be the problem.