this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2023
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Fediverse

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The mastodon and lemmy content I’m seeing feels like 90% of it comes from people who are:

  • ~30 years old or older

  • tech enthusiasts/workers

  • linux users

There’s nothing wrong with that particular demographic or anything, but it doesn’t feel like a win to me if the entire fediverse is just one big monoculture.

I wonder what it is that is keeping more diverse users away? Is picking a server/federation too complicated? Or is it that they don’t see any content that they like?

Thoughts?

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[–] Djangofett@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 years ago

I've been saying this since I joined as a Reddit refugee. This place is great!

[–] randomdude567@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Yes. Especially on Mastodon, a poll showed nearly half of the site was above 40 and 3 percent were under 18. Most of the content is people talking about the site itself, especially on lemmy. I've felt pretty isolated as a minor on the sites.

[–] MoogleMaestro@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Young people don't even understand that the internet isn't only the 5 websites that have existed since before they were born lol

That's probably a big part of it. We kind of designed the internet to become an information super oligarchy, even if it wasn't intentional.

I'm 33 for the record so I guess I'm an older tech nerd. Nice. 😎

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I tick all those boxes 😂

[–] ugh@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago

I was ready to argue that we're not all older, but apparently I'm in that category. I'm not very tech literate or use Linux, though.

I think someone else got it right. Younger people didn't live through dial-up and the old internet. They grew up with polished apps and fast loading websites. They're used to convenience.

It can be intimidating to join the fediverse. I was intimidated and still a bit confused. It's not something I'm familiar with in the slightest. I'm not scared of challenging myself to learn something new in tech, though, because of the generation I was born into. We grew up experimenting with the crunchy internet and awkward technology.

[–] aessedai@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I've just blocked the linux communities. I quite liked Linux when I still had reason to use it, but it's just not something I care to see so frequently when scrolling the FP. Just keep blocking the /c/ you don't want and eventually you'll have a curated list of posts you want to see. But maybe i'm just old, ya young bastard. :p

[–] Hikiru@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

im 16. probably in the 0.1% of fediverse users. i dont really use mastodon though, too boring for me

[–] monerobull@monero.town 3 points 2 years ago

I'm actually quite a bit younger than that. I was very much into stocks but got scammed in the GME fiasco when they disabled the buy button and got into Monero (at least I know beforehand that crypto is manipulated as fuck). Monero lead to FOSS and now I run a xmr node, i2p node, lemmy instance, selfhost cool stuff, etc. I learned a lot of stuff this way.

[–] erik1984@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

There is natural overlap in ideology between the fediverse and FOSS (Free and Open Source Software so including Linux). The same principles apply like building something together without big corporations*. But that does lead to a rather narrow demography I'm afraid.

* I know a lot of big corporations ARE involved in the Linux kernel but I'm talking about the various distros in case of Linux.

[–] jerdle_lemmy@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)
  1. 23, so no.
  2. Enthusiast, yeah, trying to get into tech for a job, but don't have the CS degree they all want.
  3. No, but not by choice. Not running Linux because I buggered my UEFI somehow, and so it won't allow me to boot from USB or switch to my Linux partition.

I think it's because early Millennials are near the peak of techiness, and the sort of person to switch to an open-source, decentralised, somewhat anti-commercial website is also the sort of person to use Linux. I'm early Gen Z, but fit the other two categories.

[–] Kaleunt17@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I do not think that it is complicated to join or use.

But many do not care about privacy and centralization and hence will not leave mainstream platforms. Also the network effect is strong.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's also used by loads of tankies

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[–] wolfcatreader@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Trash culture, TikTok and the likes. The gen z folx I know don't seem to prioritize privacy and quality content. Some know it and don't seem to care even after getting hacked/scammed.

Living vicariously through influencers, likes, and whatnot. Being cool, blending in...

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