What do you do with your time after leaving Reddit?

I am trying to cut out Reddit from my life but I’m always ending up re-installing it because I simply don’t know what do with my time. We have two small kids (1y and 3y) so I can’t simply just read more, train more, play games, watch TV, etc.

It’s rather… Reddit filled those small micro breaks I get throughout the day. When I have a few minutes on my own when my wife has the kids.

Lemmy is nice but it’s just not enough content to fill this need. I have been thinking about Blinkist or reading something lighter on my phone (something which is easy to take a break from whenever).

GuitarPerson,

I have a 2,5 year old, and when I’m not spending my micro breaks scrolling I practice my Rubik’s cube, noodle around on my guitar or do some quick cleaning. But most of the time I’m scrolling.

AceFuzzLord,

Same thing I did on r*ddit. Now I just scroll through all instead of the communities I was a part of since the content here actually is able to keep me interested when it’s in all.

kinther,
@kinther@lemmy.world avatar

Lemmy is my main social media now. I have been focusing on what I have control over in an increasingly crazy world. So studying for certifications that might lead to new work opportunities, catching up on reading books I’ve been postponing, and learning to garden.

Yeah, I spent a lot of time on reddit. The lack of content on Lemmy is a blessing in disguise.

Honytawk,

You could try to take up smoking

/s

flambonkscious,

That’s great…

I vaguely remember we had a research Dr once speaking about the issues of overweight baby births and a reporter asked them what people can do - this was a snarky suggestion :)

finthechat,
finthechat avatar

Have another kid, boom problem solved because you won't even have time for micro breaks. You're welcome.

BoxerDevil,

Reading manga. And I got a job

Kolanaki,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

And I got a job

…Reading manga? Lucky… 🥺

BoxerDevil,

No, sadly. Cook at a gas station

ericatty,

I was never really into twitter, but I like Mastodon a lot. It takes some time to find people to follow (but can be fun to do in the micro breaks)

My Mastodon feed is pretty active now with stuff I’m interested in. If you were on reddit to keep up with the news, that’s doable on Mastodon.

What are some of the niche communities you are missing? Maybe they are here just harder to find?

If you like books, maybe switch to short stories? I found when I didn’t have time for novels, they were great alternative. Especially stuff like Neil Gaiman or collections of authors. Or like NG’s Norse Mythology or Stephen Fry’s Mythos. I listened to them on audio though because they are great story tellers and if I lost track it was easy to start the story over.

flambonkscious,

Thanks! Mythos looks wonderful

tigerjerusalem,

I use my phone to read books. Every micro break is a couple or more of paragraphs I read. I lost count of how many books I already finished instead of just doomscrolling…

93maddie94,

I browse Lemmy. Sorted by top 12 hours in the voyager app. That gets me through a few hours each day during the week. Then on the weekends when I have a little extra scroll time I go to mastodon when Lemmy is exhausted, and then I visit the few Lemmy communities I subscribe to sorted by new. I also have Feedly for RSS feed articles and Pixelfed occasionally. I have an almost 2 year old. My husband has a couple mobile games (mostly Pokémon related) that he’ll use for a few minutes at a time.

Edit: I’ve also used Libby to read ebooks. If I have to stop suddenly because kids, I’ll just highlight whatever word I stopped on and pick back up later.

volvoxvsmarla,

Absolutely feel you. We have a 2.5 year old, she’s not in kindergarten yet, and what I get are micro breaks and I want to be like my husband who can just read Zelensky’s biography or a buddhist book for 5-15 minutes (his breaks are not as micro as mine) and have the concentration - or accept the lack thereof - to read. Sometimes he plays guitar with us in the room. Or does mini yoga sessions (like, 1 exercise for 2-3 minutes).

I, too, struggle without reddit in the microbreaks. Especially when breastfeeding because our girl kicks away books or magazines I basically only have my phone. What I can tell you is that lemmy got more instances so check out more communities and keep adding. It can help but yes it’s no reddit. Tbh I’ve been wanting to go back to reddit for ages, I just never get around to installing it again. I also check out a news app and read wikipedia articles. Did you know that giant deer were a thing and that Einstein was kind of an asshole in relationships? Light reading and you get into a draft where you end up with 100 tabs open to read that wait for you. This probably sounds whelp but it is really kinda addictive and fun, you can gain some knowledge and understanding or at least conversation topics.

Since you are probably not breastfeeding (I GUESS) try the magazine thing. Something light might do. There’s been a great family/parenting focused magazine in Germany but it has been discontinued.

I am also going to start trying to knit. My guess is that it won’t work because my toddler will take the needles and yarn the second she sees them but Idk how your kids are.

I’ve also been going to some playgroups and it’s always recommended to not cater to the kids and “just let them watch” or “integrate” or “play in parallel” to you doing stuff like household. I personally ask myself what kind of kids people have that this approach would work most of the time. But if this works for your family try filling the breaks with household stuff that maybe the kids can, as mentioned above, watch, join, or parallel play to. Clean a window, fix a hole in a shirt. Leaves you with less chores and tasks and if you’re lucky you can shut off your brain for a while. That’s the proclaimed ideal.

At the end of the day, lemmy isn’t reddit, and reddit kept us well entertained in these micro breaks. I absolutely feel you and I also don’t want to be a parent who pretends phones and media don’t exist or that I don’t use them. But I think we should have some stuff to do to fill the microbreaks with besides our phones. Like, man, I cannot give you any advice but we can brainstorm together if you want. Because I also want more enjoyable breaks, as well as spend less time looking at a screen in these - for my own health and for my child, she should see that I can fill my time not only with these screen induced dopamine kicks.

Macaroni_ninja,
@Macaroni_ninja@lemmy.world avatar

I quit reddit when the API-calipse happened, while had a 1 year old. These helped me to use my newly found free time in short bursts, while still having a sense of accomplishment and progress:

  • Handheld game console with suspend function to be able to put any game on pause with a press of a button (switch, steam deck)
  • Duolingo
  • Mastodon/Pixelfed
  • Audiobooks
Mac,

being bored is good for your brain btw

Today,

Duolingo!

Polarsailor, (edited )

I spend some time on Lemmy, obviously, but a lot less than I did on Reddit. It's been great! I've been getting outdoors a lot more with daily walks and weekly hikes. I published a short children's book a few months ago, and now I'm about 15,000 words into the first draft of an adult scifi novel. I didn't appreciate how much time I was pissing away. Thanks, u/spez!

nadram,
@nadram@lemmy.world avatar

Videogames when they nap / sleep. I have 2 kids more or less the same ages. The eldest games a little on weekends with me.

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