I don’t see this as a problem, the media is terrible at understanding/caring about real cultural trends.
The fact that I have a better time on Lemmy than Reddit on my phone, despite the huge difference in user numbers, says it all to me.
Reddit has been seeing a meaningful and lasting decline since they decided users don’t matter, and there’s no coming back from that.
Just like Facebook has suffered a permanent user loss and failure to grow, so will Reddit. It won’t be overnight, but newer generations are increasingly tech-literate, even when they aren’t more media-literate.
I never thought Mastodon would become a place to be, despite always hoping. Never imagined a real Reddit alternative would start to form, but here I am.
Cambridge Analytica laid the foundation of general disdain for centralized social media, and Elon Musk single-handedly exhausted the public’s patience with corporate bullshit.
I think decentralized options are here to stay, and I think the only centralized platforms that will take longer to upend are video-dependant ones.