I have conveniently been trying to grow more mature this year. I decided that in 2013, I'm going to think about what I consume - entertainment, food, social activities, etc. I really don't want to be an immature kid any more. I want to be something better than that. I think that my switch from reddit to hubski embodies that change. It's kind of a real life symbolism of my slow switch. Sure, I still have a bunch of old stupid habits, but I'm working to change.
I no longer want to make everything a joke. I find doing that makes things easier to digest, but it is never something that encourages improvement or growth. Sometimes it's nice to laugh. Spending time with friends joking around can be amazing. But I lost a lot of who I was when I stopped looking at things seriously. Analysing, thinking and then contributing is something I want to be good at. When things are funny, you can laugh and move on. When things are serious, they stay with you. A good example is a post I read a few days ago that has basically been on the back of my mind constantly (here). If it was some kind of joking way to get the message across, I sincerely doubt that it would have had a big effect on me.
Moving from the 'casual' content of the internet to the serious and thoughtful stuff is a transition I'm embracing. I'm becoming more mature.
And I'd like to think hubski has a lot to do with it. I found out about it just around the time I started transitioning, and I couldn't be happier with it. Sure, there are already some things I don't quite enjoy being posted, but it is so damn easy to get rid of it. mk has done a fantastic job.
As for reddit, it is the embodiment of what I used to be like. Not only the default subs or stupid gifs or anything, but even the things like TrueReddit, TheoryOfReddit and DepthHub. I never enjoyed looking into subjects in-depth. I just wanted a tl;dr for everything. Most of the time actually, I just read the title of an article and the comments. It's an enormous change to go from that to hubski. I hate to admit it, but reddit was and always has been a dull and stereotypical site. It is designed to be able to read a post in less than 10 seconds. Admit it, you've all seen a pile of text and just scrolled through it all. Reddit encourages quickly deliverable content.
Don't get me wrong, sometimes I'm down to look through easy-to-digest content. But I just don't feel like doing so very often any more. I really hope my new attitude stays with me and isn't a phase, because I've learnt a ton of stuff from going on hubski for a relatively short time.
Even after a week or two, I have 14 followers. On reddit, I never posted because I didn't know what to post. My good posts would be down voted for no known reason. On hubski, when I'm looking through my daily assortment of blogs and news sites, I feel compelled to post. It's just something I'd like other people who are thoughtful to see. And it's totally up to them what they do with it. If no one shares, I don't feel offended like I do with reddit and down votes. It was just that nobody felt their followers would like to see it, for whatever reason. I think that's great. It means that content gets seen by the people who want to see it, according to who they follow. It's an adjustable experience. Wow, I might have gone a bit long with that reply. Went on a little bit of a rant there. But yeah, I'm really enjoying a new perspective on how to process information on the internet.