Reddit is harmful, too.

I’ve been off social media for the most part for over 7 years now.. except Reddit. And I often find myself absorbed in subreddits like

r/AITAH r/amioverreacting r/relationship_advice

Etc etc.

But today I just had the realization that participating in these discussions, in many cases is not only a waste of time but actually destructive.

So many people speak with such confidence on incredibly complicated, nuanced relationships, encouraging people to make life-changing decisions from such little information. Encouraging people to drop people they have known for years, people they are married to, people they have children with, often over pure speculation. The scariest part is everyone acts so confidently, yet most probably know little to nothing about relationships. But the problem with the internet is you do not who is giving you advice. Do they have a life you admire? Do they have similar values/virtues as you? Are they even a real person, or just a bot? All these things matter when receiving advice from someone.

Not to mention the obvious bandwagon behavior you see often. What prompted this post for me was this post by a woman who is concerned about her fiancés relationship to this woman in his life. She posted the actual text exchange, and then had a large description detailing the context. This post got popular.. yet you could tell the MAJORITY of the comments did not read the description at all. I thought about how so many bad faith takes will impact this poor woman, causing her to question her identity, her relationship, etc. all over people who don’t even bother to treat this topic with the sensitivity it deserves, because they cannot see the person on the other side of the screen.

Anyway, this finally prompted me to see why even apps like Reddit, where it’s just discussion based, can indeed be harmful. It’s not just a time waster. It encourages group-think, encourages people to lose true authenticity of thought and personality, encourages the dehumanization of others.