Oh yeah, they’ve absolutely made it harder. One of the main reasons for leaving it. The content that is thrown in your face that ISN’T what you want to see is just not tolerable anymore.

I just happened upon a couple of recipes that looked pretty good and I did bookmark them for later and the algorithm just took it from there which I don’t mind as I like to cook. It would be different if I just kept seeing things I didnt care for.

The Web UI has WAY too much going on. The App UI does have all of the hashtags, icons, etc along the perimeter of the video frame, BUT you can select “clear mode” which removes all of that so your JUST seeing the video.

So as I had mentioned, I did go through the trouble of “unliking” every single page I had liked and did regain my Newsfeed considerably. There is another section that has influence over the newsfeed that I could go through and take care of, but after all of the work I just did I am not sure I have the motivation to do so AND do I really want to spend time doing it.

I don’t mind the many messaging apps. What I do have issue with is with I delete say, my Facebook, there is no option to keep my account JUST for the messaging aspect. Snapchat now I only use as a Group Chat between My Wife, myself, and our family that is out of State. Whats App I never got into, but I know it has a lot of popularity with folks outside of the US and iirc it is because text messaging rates are different in other countries, so a lot of people use something like WhatsApp to avoid those fees.

Thats about how often I check Facebook as well. TikTok I like for the food recipes and some out of left field facts and info(that I check for validity of course and deeper reading), but news? No way.

Totally agree. There will be a point where Reddit will become nothing more than something you go to for very niche things (if not found here), or(and this pertains to the profession/hobby/niche also) finding answers via Google to things that your having issues with. I have found some very good info for solving IT related issues on Reddit. So while I may not participate like I used to, it is still good for posting issues your having or finding solutions to problems that you are having.

That is something I have noticed. You wouldn’t see it by glancing over, but when you look at some of the deeper comments in some threads on Reddit, and they are easier to notice on Subs that match your interest, some of these comments are very….well it feels like they are looking for conflict. Like your either wrong or wrong. The atmosphere here does feel more relaxed, but I also don’t think there is enough people here for it to become confrontational and I hope for it to stay that way, even when/if Lemmy grows in popularity.

What I have mainly used it for is when I’m not in the same location as my network and I need something from it. Like a Cloud so to speak. To VPN in, grab it, and done.

Not necessarily, depends on the use case.

I didn’t plan on it, as the research I did on the Brave VPN did not sit too well with me. Nord I have heard of, Mulvad is new to me. I know all too well about Free VPNs and the damage they could actually end up doing.

I used to have my own VPN set up. Had a massive power surge and took out my RPi running PiVPN. When I have time, I plan on re-setting it up again.

My main reason for VPN is as I have been researching Crypto more and I had read that you needed a VPN to interact with the DeFi Network.

I might go back to FireFox depending. I’m also trying to dedicate Chrome exclusively for use with my job and having either FF, or in this case, Brave for everything else I do.

What would you recommend then? I got sold on the privacy branding on Brave. But if it is useless and proven so, then I might as well migrate back to Firefox

I went from Chrome to FireFox back to Chrome and now to Brave. Brave has actually made me miss Firefox a bit. I’m going to stick with Brave a bit though, I like the Tor functionality and the Wallet function feels useless. I’m not too sure how secure having a copy of your COLD Wallet is on your browser. Additionally, I’ve been looking into Nord VPN that I also completely passed over the integrated VPN functionality as well.

I’m currently in the process of replacing Reddit with Lemmy. I’m keeping Reddit for the sole purpose of being linked there from Google Results and until I get used to Lemmy, how it works, and find communities that are relevant to me.

I do find Lemmy interesting in how , despite being in an instance, you can still see posts from other instances and such. I am still getting used to it, so will keep Reddit around until I am completely accustomed to it.