I’m a nurse and reddit has a nursing subreddit I like to contribute to because they give good advice regarding my job, how to deal with arrogant doctors, bitchy coworkers… they know things a regular user in a generic channel couldn’t answer, because they don’t know the job.
I think asking in a channel like this for nursing advice doesn’t make much sense, because this is not a nursing specific channel.
Something similar happens to my workplace questions: there is an antiwork lemmy, but the one in reddit is much larger and they also have a work community, and so far I haven’t found anything like that on lemmy.
Another issue is size: For some problems, like violence in the hospital I need speedy advice and I get that faster when the communities are larger. Reddit is larger.
Simply replying ‘we don’t monetize’ while true and one reason why I turned to lemmy and don’t use reddit as much now, is not convincing enough for my particular case.
I go to Reddit to learn to be patient with impatient people, while ignoring trolls. These habits have improved my professional habits, helped me acquire new business, and generally improved my performance as an executive.
So I’m quite happy for Reddit to continue existing in it’s current form. Usually I log in and answer questions about electronic design for 30 minutes, then log off. Conversations on Lemmy are much more pleasant, but I don’t log on to Reddif to meet pleasant people!
In other words, if it’s useful to you, then why not use it?
I think arguments can be made to avoid using something even if it’s useful to you. For example, burning fossil fuels is useful for humans, but it will destroy our ability to live on this planet. Of course the pros and cons have to be weighed in every situation. But in regards to the (granted, rhetorical) question about why not to use it, I’m sure valid answers could be given.
Finally I see someone who thinks in my way. This is my reason to keep a tab on 4chan, Reddit, Telegram, Discord and XMPP.
Much like Reddit teaches me patience, hanging around with bankers and executives has taught me a lot about ethics! Not all were awful, but the ones that were have given me a superfluity of examples of what not to do.
Learning from what people don’t know (or don’t do) is such a neat trick! I wish I had clued in on it earlier.
If you have not, diversify your social media like I do, without even needing to touch Facebook/Instagram/Messenger (unless you do). For example, no metadata is also metadata, the same way, every type of person and communication has a different meaning and purpose. This way, you do not need to reinvent the communication wheel and is effortless, since others are doing the work for you.
That’s occurred to me too! It seems we have independently discovered a fairly productive way to use social media.
I usually select exactly who I will be on a platform beforehand. Not to misrepresent anything, but just make sure the platform works for me (and others) instead of wasting everyone’s time.
Then on the major platforms I choose not to use, I create profiles with an incorrect set of associations, history, and interests. They’re going to end up with my data one way or another, so I may as well take control of the narrative and render it inert.