Casual Conversation

Post reddit, most of my internet time is youtube. I barely used youtube until like '22. I like watching longform videos about various topics from actual professionals and experts, not lame layman commentary from wannabe influencers that seems to make up the bulk of popular crap on there. That and the occasional old school forum for some of my hobbies that are still active, though the userbase there is usually people in their 60s.

That's pretty much it. I don't do discord or any of that stuff. It's weird and boring to me because so much of the chats are just inane small talk.

I still miss the communities on reddit I used to be involved with 5-10 years ago, but they all died, or some weird mod took over and banned anyone who was remotely authentic because they wanted the sub to be disneyfied. It was really great to be part of a near-peer group of people my own age and swap stories and crack jokes. I feel like the modern internet is so absurdly serious and money-focused.

Even IRL all my old social spaces are long gone, and/or the population shifted from people who were chill to people who are obsessed with their brand image, who are a huge drag to interact with. It's been so long since I met anyone new who was just doing their thing and enjoying life, and not obsessively trying to broadcast an image of themselves or sell you something.

I guess that's why I like youtube now, the videos I watch are mostly people just doing their thing, rather than trying to promote themselves or sell products. Most of the channels I watch are pretty small and probably won't ever grow as they are too academic for a broader audience.