When I get really bored and have nothing else I want to do - not even watching TV or playing video games - I browse reddit. Not in the normal way though. I use the random function, sort by top of all time, and see what strange new subreddits have to offer.
Here are my favorite finds:
r/simpsonsshitposting - like walking into a room of long lost friends
r/gay_irl - understanding the world through an extremely online gay man's eyes
r/popheads - understanding pop music through an extremely online gay man's eyes
r/192 - high school kids? I think?
r/VeteransBenefits - desperate people looking for a little recognition from the government that chewed them up and spit them out
r/CaliBanging - a peek into gang culture in California. See also: r/chiraqology
As always, half the fun is reading the comments. For examples like VeteransBenefits or CaliBanging in particular, the comments illustrate a totally foreign mindset, a mental “place” where I could never live. Start thinking about the authors and you immediately zoom out of your own bubble, with concerns and ideas you long forgot about coming back into view.
Similar effect for any blue collar subreddit, like r/electricians.
You’d think some city or state subreddits like r/Iowa would have the same effect, but it turns out there are college-educated liberals in all cities and states! Who knew!
I wonder if political messaging consultants do something similar to subreddit tourism. You have to be able to reach all these authors with your slogans and campaigns, it must help to jump into their heads a bit.
Tourism through Time
In a separate category of experience are the dead or dying subreddits. You can tell right away if a subreddit is in this category because the most upvoted posts of all-time are all at least a year old. Sure, some of the top posts on a healthy subreddit will be on the older side, but most of them should be relatively fresh.
(One confounder here: many of the most upvoted posts are from 2020 and 2021 even on the healthy subreddits. I wonder what was going on in the world to make so many people active on reddit…)
Some examples:
r/KotakuInAction - remember GamerGate? The remaining users on this subreddit sure do! Can’t believe this was ever a thing.
r/MandelaEffect - this is the Berenstain/Berenstein Bears thing. I can’t pin down why this sub is dying but it is. Maybe the nature of all fads? A deep state conspiracy??
r/podcasts - feels like a granfalloon now. Back when podcasts weren’t big, perhaps it made sense, but now podcast-specific subs would make more sense (and there are many).
Also in this category are most crypto project subreddits. Usually the most upvoted posts coincide with the coin’s ATH. These comments in particular are an amazing time capsule, back to a time when fake internet money was minting actual millionaires. The sheer volume of hours these commenters spent doing DD (such as it was) or TA or hanging out on project Discords makes me wonder where else all the times and cycles could have gone.
(Quick plug for r/buttcoin.)
The most instructive part of time tourism is thinking about what today will look silly tomorrow. Personally, I’ve been thinking twice about reading political news, especially with PredictIt dying with Kalshi’s knife in its back and taking my financial incentive to the grave with it.
So, next time you’re insufferably bored, give the random function a try. At least you’ll see something new.