Generalization of course, but the younger generation isn't always as tech savvy as one might assume, and I'd imagine they prefer the easy "sign in and scroll" apps

Hey, I'm still in my 20s... for another 3 weeks. Also, Software Engineer for over 10 years...

For me, I really miss the old school internet forms where it was all just people nerding out about the same stuff and providing useful information because they cared about the interest and the community.

Reddit used to be like that but now it's like any other social media platform.

Everything is becoming algorithm driven endless scrolling packed with ads and promoted content with very little focus on the community and actual information. It is just an app you use when you want to turn off your brain.

I'm brand new to lemmy and stuff like it but I'm hoping to find something closer to the classic internet. Not sure if that's what I'll find here but reddit sure isn't that any more, and hasn't been for a while

Millennial checking in. Not a Linux user, not a programmer, occasionally plays Minecraft

I saw a pull on Mastodon and only 4% said that they were under 18

This is a constant cycle.

Tech nerds invent new technology/platform>nerds flock to new thing>the masses hear about it and start flooding it>money notices a large user base that isn't being complete wrung out for money>money destroys the new thing by making it unusable for profit>repeat

I’m 36 but a tech potato.

I can build a computer and do basic troubleshooting. That’s about it.

I would say picking a server. Regular users shouldn't be bothered with that. I wouldn't say multiple server choice is a bad thing, it's actually great thing, but regular users shouldn't be bothered with that. Maybe hide server selection behind advanced section or something like that, so regular users aren't bothered with that, but more tech savy users can still find that option if they would like to. And default option for server can be lemmy.world for example (or any other server). If using lemmy is too dificult for regular users and learning curve is too big, they will not bother with that and they will just leave. I am using Connect for Lemmy now and I think lemmy.world is selected by default. I am just using it and I was never bothered with concept of multiple servers, and I really like that I don't have to worry about that.

Yes, but that's pretty much the early adopter demographic across all tech. I would love for people to realize this and start talking about their other hobbies, not just how they run Lemmy on a toaster and are so radical.

I thought Lemmy didn't collect info about me 🧐

After chatting to a few gen z, if I was to assume a characteristic of this generation, it's that most seem to have completely given up, or not even started, the fight against the deterioration of online privacy, exposure to ads, and companies "rights" and/or ability to harvest personal data from them no matter what they want. It's just part of life to them.

It's just accepted, and whenever I've raised the issue with them, they'll generally just reply with defeatist/pessimist/'pragmatic': "well, the alternative X, y and z apps/websites you've suggested likely all have hardware backdoors forcibly installed anyway"

So I think the willingness to fight, and picture a different way of having things, really is focused on those within millennial and gen-x age bands.

Edit: the point being, gen z therefore appear less likely to move away from existing structures, like Snapchat and Reddit, over increased ad promulgation, personal data harvesting, or bad company behaviour.

I mean, I'm 32, my husband is a software dev, and I've been curious about Linux, but not enough to make the move. 😅 So, one of of three.

But I agree with the others. It's probably partly due to the signup. I also think that the techy prime are the ones who understand what happened with Reddit better and are more likely to care.

Nah I'm a 19 year old tech nerd With a pinch of Linux enthusiast lol

Maybe I'm am outlier but I'm 21 and here.

I wonder what it is that is keeping more diverse users away?

The more diverse users are the ones that aren't realistically worried about their online privacy and are too used and comfortable with what the big names offer. They're more likely to be the ones that would only move once "everyone they know" moves.

Also, consider that the "advertising", the message and reason for joining the fediverse, It's like [Twitter/Reddit/Instagram] when they were good, minus the corporate meddling and greed and algorithmic shit shoveling!, only really catches the attention of a few types of people.

Average Joe and Jane won't move out, "there's nobody there (that they care about)". Internet famous Joes and Janes won't move either, because they will lose a significant portion of followers.

People are willing to put up with A LOT of shit to avoid moving out of places like Instagram, Twitter, Reddit or Tiktok, since the time spent there makes them feel like it's a place where they belong to.

1. Yes, in my late 30s.
2. I was a computer scientist, but now I have done a complete 180. But I'm still a nerd at heart.
3. Yup, I'm a Linux user.

But we have to understand that Lemmy/Kbin are still babies, they've just started. And I really believe that it will continue to grow and get better at accommodating users who are not tech nerds. But it will be an organic process.

The more Reddit gets worse (no more moderation bots, no good moderation tools from Reddit, etc.), the more people will migrate to Lemmy/Kbin. This migration will force the community to adapt and make it easier and easier for users to integrate.

To be fair, the most diversity I'm seeing in an userbase right now is the one on tiktok. That's definitely a plus, but at what cost? There are trade-offs in every platform.

Yes, that's why it is so good.

I guess we are the ones remembering how it was 15+ years ago

That's how reddit used to be before Digg shit the bed.

I am none of those things and I didn't think it was too complicated, I just had no idea it existed until I joined r/redditalternatives.

I love the old internet feel. Once I saw the fesiverse 'map' it made perfect sense.

The thing I'm struggling with the most is being able to subscribe to communities on some instances with this account but not all instances. And being able to add some instances to an app (liftoff, tusk) but not all. That's the most frustrating for me right now.

Cool. I'm all three. 😏

Early 20s here.

The Reddit migration was probably mostly people who know what an API is so that fits your demographic.

Also, people generally don’t take a stance on something unless it affects them personally. So API, privacy, data collection etc just doesn’t register.

I use arch btw

Fit the first one. Not the other two 😂

Just turned 18. Work in tech, but not a Linux user (yet). Non of my friends used Reddit in the first place, so for sure non are on lemmy

from my own experience, that's definitely the case for Mastodon, except people are 40 and up.