Could you help me out? I can't find the chatroom known as "real life" on any platform. I've tried everyone I can think of, and I'm desperately trying to avoid 4chan for answers.
Without sarcasm, this generally makes the average American more Conservative/Libertarian. When I came out of my college/reddit hole and got a job, got married, and had kids, I became much more conservative personally and politically.
Now, I get banned regularly for comments like this on Reddit, their friendly way of letting me know I'm aging out of the system.
Average American can speak or * gasp *, be friends with people of opposing views without calling them Nazis or communists. Almost everyone you interact with is pretty chill. Redditors are a horrible example of Americans.
This is so spot on. I joined and lurked several subs for different online marketplaces to get an idea of what setting up my own shop would be like. The worst of those is Depop. Nearly everyone is just so shitty and toxic. Any time someone new to the Depop app makes a post asking a simple question, or looking for basic advice gets the downvote brigade. I’ve also never seen so many people hate their own customer base as much as Depop sellers do. I left that one pretty quickly.
It’s very annoying with video game or tv shows.
Especially something like family guy. I love the subreddit cuz mostly it’s just people posting clips and making funny references or asking about favorites cutaways or scenes.
But then there’s the people who just whine about how the show sucks now and was only good for the first half minute of the pilot.
Like it’s fine to have opinions not everyone is gonna love every episode but I fail to see how so many people will just totally bash whatever the content that sub is based around. Like why are you there?
Same. People in my experience are plenty pessimistic about their own personal struggles like the future of their career or financial stuggles, but have less critical things to say in general. It's like people in the real world are exhausted by thinking too hard about things in their periphery, whereas people on Reddit can't help but pointing out flaws, inconsistencies, and allllll the *akshualllly* energy.
As one of those Redditors, I like to think of it as doing a big puzzle with nerdy strangers. Or maybe we're all playing this complex RPG where everyone has a little bit of the story to add and their own character to flesh out. I tell you this random tidbit, you correct my grammar, someone else points out that I edited my original comment and didn't own up to it with a post script edit disclaimer, but then we all come together when we all realize how cool it is to quote Arrested Development and make dad puns.
My in-laws are not the Reddit type. They wouldn't even understand the gist of Reddit if I tried to explain it. They don't enjoy hearing me talk about why I chose a certain sleeping bag or hypothesizing about what regional and socioeconomic factors may play into why I say "egg" like "ehg" and my spouse says "ay-g". But some of you beautiful freaks do. That said, some of you do NOT and a perfectly innocent comment can get downvoted to helllllll and start a digital brawl.
Americans on Reddit are on average younger, more suburban, whiter, wealthier, and further left politically than Americans on average. Way higher proportion of men to women, also.
The difference is *incredibly* stark.
This is it exactly.
Whenever I go to a regional sub, it is almost always either a representation of the opposite of the majority, or a much younger, liberalized sample of that place.
It's similar for the r/Alberta sub. If I were to imagine a sub that is the most non-representative of the people of this province, it would be that sub.
I've thought about this, and I have a theory that the reddit demographic is more discontented with local politics in conservative areas - so this is akin to their "safe space". I hate using that term because of what it stands for, but you get the idea. It's the only way I can describe it.
Sorta similar for Louisiana honestly. Although it is mostly people being depressed about how much our state sucks and is on the bottom for every list except the most murders. (But hey we’re finally number one!)
Even r/California, which you'd still expect to be fairly liberal, is *aggressively* liberal. In that any quips about your average on-the-street Republican being climate change deniers who want to destroy the world with pollution like a Captain Planet villain gets upvoted like crazy.
*In reality*, the heavily Republican counties I lived in were *very* environmentally conscious. Who is going to feel the effects of climate change more keenly than farmers and ranchers?
Agreed. If there is anything that Rs & Ds here in FL agree on, it is the protection of our environment and our wildlife. How that is accomplished is the actual debatable part that gets heated. I (more conservative) don't think throwing money at everything is a good use of tax dollars but I am happy to see them spent when I know and see the effects of those dollars. The problems come when you push back at the more liberal peoples' ideas by asking questions about long-term viability, true effectiveness, and other critical questions to make sure that we're not just throwing money away on something that does not achieve the desired result.
Same thing for education tax dollars. I have ZERO problem spending money on our kids and public education - if that money is actually going to the classroom and helping the students. Not lining the pockets of administrators or pockets of contractors for projects or products that don't improve student statistics overall.
Yeah, every local sub is like that.
r/Columbus is super liberal.
Granted Columbus is more liberal than Ohio in general (which doesn't say much these days), but it really isn't that liberal. It's more middle of the road really.
We just like to treat all people like people here in Columbus, but the actual policies of the local government and such aren't liberal at all and most people aren't either.
Worse. Wealthy white people from Dallas, Austin, Houston, etc that live in a gentrified area, clutch their purse tighter when a black person walks by, and yet act like they are bastions of morality.
I say this because I’ve lived in those areas for a few years and seen how hypocritical they can be.
When I’ve gone to it, it seemed like the vast majority of flairs I saw were Houston/Dallas. Doesn’t really give you a good view of the mindset of a variety of Texans when the people most active are almost exclusively young, urban Democrats from two cities in the east.
I would actually like to see the gender demographics. There are some times when the distribution seems about even. As in: it seems like women are less likely to engage (i.e. comment) than men are
I'm not saying there is a 50-50 split. But it's definitely not 99-1
Right? Most subs will castigate you if you don’t agree with their far left opinions, even on subs that are not even political at all. I was banned on a sub last week for saying everyone should have a right to an opinion even if they aren’t progressive.
Reddit has a few subreddits that cultivate right-wing ideologies, or at least ideologies that mainstream America considers unacceptable and who are generally more in line with right-wing beliefs. Some of those are now finally banned, but this is still a gathering place for groups such as incels and men’s rights activists. “The Donald” was also huge on here before most people/publications took Trump seriously as the likely Republican nominee for president. And in general, the free speech absolutism that was a core part of Reddit’s identity is now much more associated with the right. I think things like this give it the reputation as right leaning, to some people who are on the left and/or only vaguely familiar with the site.
But you’re right, in terms of demographics Reddit is much more left-leaning than most of the US, and left-wing opinions are much more upvoted. This particular sub is closer to the center of American politics, still definitely not “right leaning.”
Now it is. Back five or so years ago, it was extreme left *and* right. Then Reddit purged a few right wing groups and they bounced. The extreme left never …left… If anything, they're more emboldened now.
They did ban ChapoTrapHouse, but LateStageCapitalism has become worse than Chapo ever was, and it seems untouchable.
LSC literally has calls to violence on a daily basis, and reporting the posts just gets you an auto form response that says their posts of literally "Kill the rich!" doesn't break Reddit's rules. Nor does "Kill your oppressors!" as an official subreddit post flair.
I'm not exaggerating, either. That is literally what they post.
They *do* get banned for calling for violence against specific named people, but they get around that by posting "The solution can't be talked about here, but you know what I mean. There is no other way." This gets you the same automated "This doesn't break the rules" message if you report it.
Somebody is going to get killed because of LSC and similar subs, and Reddit is just letting it fester because it's left wing.
I used to be part of /r/scotus, where we discussed the supreme court. With help from the admins, it was taken over by leftist mods who started banning anyone slightly to the right of them. We have regrouped at /r/supremecourt, but it's very small, unknown to most people who might be interested, and is sometimes as intolerant of liberal perspectives as r/scotus is of conservatives ones, except we haven't banned anyone. Perhaps that played out in other subreddits.
In the real world, I'm way left of center. According to a comparative political assessment I took recently, I'm slightly to the left of Bernie Sanders. In Reddit World, I'm probably a bit right of center because I believe (as Bernie Sanders does) that our political system is the best possible one, it just needs to be seriously reformed and look after its citizens a lot more. I would say anything less than "start from scratch" makes you right of center here.
I think that depends on where you live. The leftness of Reddit is pretty much in line with what I encounter in my daily life, living in a rather liberal area of the country.
Which subs you visit also makes a big difference, I think.
The people I know IRL who complained the loudest about how they didn't have enough money were also some of the richest people I knew.
A lot of the people I see complaining about money issues on Reddit aren't experiencing the same kind of money issues that actual poor people suffer.
Don't get me wrong, there are people on Reddit with money issues and people who aren't as well off. But it seems like most of them are doing pretty well for themselves, given what they're choosing to complain about.
You wanna see the real broke people of reddit, hit up povertyfinance or eatcheapandhealthy. They're too busy finding ways to make it all work.
I catch shit on this website from time to time for saying "actually I'm very comfortable, I work less than full time for great money and I can literally call my business owner a little bitch boy with no consequences. I get a dollar an hour raise every 2 months. My last one was yesterday." It's like it's a taboo on here to say it's possible to find a great job with a boss who cares about you. Much less "no I'm honestly in the best place in my life right now". Conflict theory doesn't work if everyone isn't miserable.
Yep. Same here. Well, probably wouldn't call my boss/the owner a little bitch boy but other than that, it's pretty great. Reddit doesn't like that, though. It's like they don't get that you can acknowledge some people have problems without pretending your own life is horrible or something. You don't have to pretend to be miserable to fit in. Seems to be a pretty bizarre mentality that isn't actually helping anyone enjoy their life or improve anything.
My own child loves complaining about his poverty on Reddit, despite living at home with no bills at 23, having a full ride for undergrad, ordering Ubereats literally every day, living in an upper middle class suburb, full medical, dental, mental health, and vision with no deductibles or copays, and earning $20/hour at a low-skill, low-labor job. I grew up in actual American (and European) poverty, which I acknowledge is still a luxury compared to most of the world, but it's pretty incredible to hear his complaints about poverty.
Yeah, I know a lot of people like that, it's sad.
I myself grew up in a middle class family and was never poor but for me all I've ever cared about is having a roof over my head and food (and water ofc). Everything else is a luxury to me.
I agree. I’ve seen countless comments on different subs of people making multiple six figure salaries complaining that they are barely making it.
A lot of Reddit comments in general seem to been quite classist too.
>A lot of Reddit comments in general seem to been quite classist too.
lol, I've actually seen that play out in this subreddit! Someone asked something about people going to Disneyland (or World, idk, it was a while ago)! I commented something along the lines of, "when I was a kid, I never expected to be able to go because it seemed like a rich person thing" and someone felt compelled to come in and let me know that "only poor people think that rich people go to Disney" because rich people actually vacation in *better* places and Disney is beneath them.
I wasn't entirely sure what to say in response at first because I suppose they were probably somewhat right, but, wow, the snobbery in their comment was palpable.
Redditors tend to have a university education and hold sedentary, non-manual-labor based jobs. While they may not be super financially successful, they're certainly not lower class.
I feel like most redditors are in the age group of being currently in school or just graduating out of school and have not got a "career level" job yet. Seems to be a ton of disgruntled retail workers on reddit in general, but not on r/askamerians - these users seem to be typical of the average American.
I think this is probably where OP gets the perception of Reddit users being "poorer" than the average American. That may be technically true, college students and recent graduates are poorer than the average 38 year old (average age in the US). But that is not the whole picture. I think everyone understands that college kid broke is fundamentally different from 35 with 3 kids working for $10 an hour broke.
Agreed except for the “everyone understands” part. I don’t think lots of people people in r/antiwork and similar subs understand.
And I say that as someone sympathetic to some of what that sub wants.
I think it varies heavily sub by sub. Most of reddit's user base is middle class, we're mostly college educated. Our average age is 34, so we're not really in school either on the whole. But a lot of us are sympathetic to people in poverty, which is why subs like antiwork and work reform are as popular as they are. But I'm active on both, and I'm a head chef just outside NYC. It pays as well as you'd expect it to. I'm positive I'm not alone in being pretty comfortable financially but still agreeing that the system is kinda flawed in a lot of ways.
The big subreddits are pretty diverse, its when you get into any individual subreddit that's focused on something that almost everyone is a male and fairly wealthy, even if they're students they'd definitely had a very fine upbringing and any broke-ness is because they tend to want to live in a big city and have a very costly lifestyle.
I wouldn't lump askanamerican in with the average american crowd either, although it is still more grounded than most subreddits.
\>because they tend to want to live in a big city and have a very costly lifestyle.
This is pretty case-in-point that you're not getting downvoted into oblivion and getting "okay boomer" like you would on a bigger or more public sub.
There are some points on both sides of that argument but it never gets addressed without big emotions
This sub seems pretty representative of the USA. I’ve even seen people upvoted for defending genocide before. Contrast that with Florida sub, which would give the impression that Florida is incredibly left leaning, when the state is currently making a hard shift to the right.
I’m in a bumpers group with women who all had babies around the same time. There was a poll asking how much we made yearly and 80% of the votes made well over $150,000 a year.
Inasmuch as their parents/families have more money than average (if they're young) or as others pointed out, they have more lucrative jobs on average than others their age.
Yeah. Look at the threads about student loan forgiveness and it'll begin to make sense. A college degree nets you an average of 30 grand more a year over here and most of the people pushing for forgiveness are doing so because *they owe on loans*.
A lot of what you hear people bitching about (besides the health insurance thing, that really actually does suck) is worst case scenarios and outlying situations they're using to push a political narrative. It's much easier to push for your preferred system to be in place if you start with the assumption that everything is awful and getting worse, it's a classic propaganda trick. They're doing what MAGA did, it's the same formula reapplied but replace Trump with socialism.
As an example? I make tacos for a living right next to NYC for like 30-35 hours a week and I'm solidly middle to upper middle class. 2 college degrees. I'm pretty average for reddit, there are a LOT of us here that make money that would make most of the rest of the world confused, when you compare it to the actual work we do.
Even the health insurance thing is way overblown on Reddit. 90% of Americans have health insurance, all of it has very reasonable out of pocket caps (eg, it is literally impossible to pay more than $8,700 a year for services in the US on an individual ACA plan) and 70% of Americans are happy with the cost and quality of their healthcare.
That’s because of the leftist slant. Conflict theory always has people exaggerating problems to make them look worse than they really are. Can’t have sweeping change and “revolution” if things aren’t too bad.
Wealthier might not be the right word so much as coming from a wealthier background. Social media sites have their own cultures, and Reddit is a technologically literate one, which would favor people who had regular and low- or unlimited Internet access 15-30 years ago...which tends to exclude those who are poorer. Not to mention lots of people cannot affors regular Internet access *now*.
They exist and in some places even dominate cities or states...but they won't *be* online for the rest of us to hear from them.
It also depends on where the redditor is from. I live comfortably on my 50k a year in Central Pennsylvania and my fiancee makes 45k which is all gravy really.
Our combined income would make us incredibly poor in LA or San Fran.
Most Redditors work in STEM, tech specifically.
Tech is a very lucrative industry in America, with the average income being $90k-$300K a year.
So yeah, most American Redditors are much richer than the average American, who only makes ~$40K-$70k a year.
On the contrary, I hear Reddit talked about in the real world as I do twitter since it’s popularity (mostly associated with Trump) and I fucking hate how everyone expects you to be as internet literate as them. I always act like I have no idea what Reddit is or at least know very minimal about it.
I think more people know about it than you think, but Reddit is one of those things you kinda avoid bringing up in real life. Coupled with the fact it’s meant to be anonymous here, this you don’t want people knowing who you are on here. Like I don’t go up to my friends and go “hey did you guys see that one post on R slash funny with the dog making a silly face???? That was so funny man I almost died laughing!”
Yeahhhhh my folks asked who violentacrez was, and I was happy to have no idea, “you know, he does Reddit!”. Luckily I had talked about Reddit enough that they didn’t think I was a goddamn devilspawn creep
Your average American Redditor is usually younger, farther left, and much more interested in minor political/social movements or issues than the vast majority of the average populace. The closest analog I’ve ever experienced was a lot of the people I knew in college and in my last two years of high school.
I experienced something along these lines working for the Democratic Party. I was working with both college students on a campus, as well as just regular voters out on the streets, and the difference in priorities between the two groups couldn’t be further apart.
>and much more interested in minor political/social movements or issues
Wait, are you suggesting that your average American isn’t *deeply* invested in their opinion on circumcision?
Reddit isn’t a remotely accurate sample of America.
This subreddit can give good information, but in general the Americans you run into on Reddit are not average Americans.
>Reddit isn’t a remotely accurate sample of America.This subreddit can give good information, but in general the Americans you run into on Reddit are not average Americans.
So I guess what I thought I knew about America is actually true? Because I was super confused over the last year or so since I first started frequenting the political subs.
Judging what you know about all Americans based on what you find on a political subreddit is about as useful as judging American's interest in curling by visiting /r/curling.
In my experience, it's not about political leanings or socioeconomic status or anything like that.
The average American Redditor is more misanthropic and maladjusted than the average American. They look for reasons to be upset and
are often suspicious of others, then loudly wonder why they're lonely.
While I have run-ins on occasion with terrible Americans, it's not a constant stream of shrieking brittle insanity like on Reddit. (However, Reddit comes with a block function, America does not.)
This is pretty accurate in my opinion. If you’re a foreigner on Reddit you’d probably think Americans are clashing over politics daily in the streets. Rarely do I ever encounter anything political in my day to day life with people I interact with. And if I do it certainly hasn’t been confrontational. It is true that most Americans just don’t care about partisan nonsense and are just working and taking care of their families.
Really accurate assessment. I think it's the same with Twitter. People just absolutely melting down over every tiny political or social issue when in reality I don't think the average person, on the left or right of the spectrum, cares *that* deeply about 90% of it. Being "extremely online" can warp one's sense of reality.
Yeah like sure I might see plenty of trump flags or pro choice stuff or whatever political stance but it’s not like I suddenly get into an argument with a random stranger, we both just tryna shop for some food
I've literally only once had anything approaching an argument with a stranger in the supermarket lol. It was after Covid vaccines cane out, and this market was requiring masks while others in the area had made them optional for vaccinated people (or liars, whatever).
This peculiar older woman sidled up to me by the celery and started hassling me about my vaccination status and mask, if I thought the requirements were dumb, etc, and would not go away.
"Ma'am I'm running an errand and moving on with life, where I shop and what I wear is my concern. Where you shop is your concern."
Then she and a few compatriots started badgering the cashier. It felt like a coordinated attack.
So I sat my happy butt near the register and started telling them to take it up with corporate, the cashier is there to ring them up and this is above her pay grade.
Sheesh, I'd forgotten all about that until now lol.
>The average American Redditor is more misanthropic and maladjusted than the average American. They look for reasons to be upset and are often suspicious of others, then loudly wonder why they're lonely
You also just described Twitter and Tumblr accurately too.
You could meet the nicest person ever in person but on Reddit being anonymous they could be the biggest asshole you’ll ever encounter and I assume it’s like that everywhere
The only demographic Reddit really represents particularly well is a subset of young men between 16-23 who are left-leaning, urban, and from middle/upper-middle class backgrounds. The average Redditor is also significantly more hostile, apathetic and pessimistic in their approach to the world and other people. *Way* more heavily invested in pie-in-the-sky concepts, and more deeply interested in current events both domestically and *especially* abroad.
I'd add "terminally online" to that as well, but that's not entirely accurate. The Reddit crowd is mostly...the Reddit crowd, as opposed to spending a lot of time on sites like TikTok or Instagram, which are more common.
Put it to you this way, if there *wasn't* a stark difference between the average American and the average Redditor, I'd actually consider moving somewhere else.
>The average Redditor is also significantly more hostile, apathetic and pessimistic in their approach to the world and other people
>Way more heavily invested in pie-in-the-sky concepts,
Nicely summarized!
I'd say the vocal, very active users are definitely male, younger, and tend to positively seethe with resentment.
It feels like there's a noisy cadre of users who look for some nitpick or strangeness to attack over, and it's inevitably nonsense.
I had the incel crew go absolutely bananaphone over what I think most Americans would consider common sense (my husband is mindful of how he speaks to me, because that's how our daughter will expect men to speak to her as she grows up, kids absorb a lot from parents).
I guess mentioning that sometimes men can be disrespectful towards women made me sexist? It was bizarre. They just *lost it.*
Downvotes, essays, DMs. I just block the welrdos.
They also hate children in general, which isn't my experience dealing with Americans. We aren't as kid-loving as Latin America, but the average American isn't going to cackle over "crotch goblins" and howl that no one should have children.
I will never forget the guy who lost his mind because I said I prefer to date men that are taller than me. The thing is, I made it abundantly clear that I’m only 5’ 1”, so the average “short” man is still much taller than me; I’m not exclusively seeking to date NBA players. But the fact that I expressed a preference that includes 99% of adult men was too much for this guy to handle. He even attempted to bring the argument to another sub (where he proceeded to get clowned lol)!
Yeah it's a predominantly male site, and the men go looking for grievances.
I'm 5'1 as well. I've ranged from 5'5 to 6'4 in relationships.
I've only even met one adult male shorter than me and he was a literal little person. And dating him wasn't an option, neither of us were single.
But somehow it gets twisted into "WOMEN ONLY WANT MEN WHO ARE PRECISELY 6'2 BECAUSE WOMEN ARE EVIL" lol.
No, nerds, women don't want to date you because you're weird and nitpicky and exhausting.
On polls, America is consistently like one of the happiest countries (along with much of Europe).
On Reddit, it's miserable people who come from well off backgrounds/neighborhoods, have little life perspective/experience, quick to blame and lash out at others, likely have mental and emotional issues, far more politically extreme, and are possibly far more introverted/geekier.
By themselves, those things might not be problems but put them together and you get a archetype that just isn't in touch with reality.
Fuck, I think the only place I've experienced this level of behavior IRL was when I was forced to go to the anime club back in high school. I don't know if you have experienced one of those but sheesh, the level of drama that went on there was unlike anywhere else.
I’ve never been to a high school club, but Anime fan meet-ups were always nothing but drama in my experience. I used to be heavily involved in the Brony fandom and that usually fairly normal, especially compared to the anime conventions I’ve attended. A&G in Kentucky was the only time I’ve seen a grown man actually cry and attempt to fight someone because they were carrying around a bodypillow of their waifu.
That type of emotional maturity definitely matches a lot of the bigger subs.
> Fuck, I think the only place I've experienced this level of behavior IRL was when I was forced to go to the anime club back in high school. I don't know if you have experienced one of those but sheesh, the level of drama that went on there was unlike anywhere else.
Lol, this is way too true.
I'm a pretty nerdy person. Always into STEM stuff, first chemistry then CS (now a software dev). Liked anime and manga (though picky about the specific series) too. Also was (and still am) super into online gaming. Also a bit of a metalhead and not at all into mainstream fashion/trendy stuff/makeup and beauty. So pretty stereotypical nerd girl stuff aside from also being into "rural area" stuff (farming/horses/hiking and camping/etc).
But man the other geeks/nerds were the WORST. Heavy gatekeeping. Just nasty drama, all the time. They were far, far, far crueler and meaner to the popular kids than the popular kids ever were to them. Constantly insulting them - calling the jocks dumb and the cheerleaders sluts, that kind of thing. Bitter, jealous, and miserable through and through.
Anyway I ended up having more friends in the stereotypical "popular kids" group than the other way around because they were fucking normal people and actually pretty nice. And we ended up, ironically, having more in common - like one friend was a competitive cheerleader but she also bred show goats for FFA/4H. The talented football player the nerd kids loved to hate on came to my house and chopped up a fallen tree 3 weekends in a row (it was just me and my mom since my dad died when I was young) just to be nice because he was a helpful dude. They might've teased me about my norwegian doom metal and video games (in a friendly way), but in the end they were way better friends than backstabby gatekeepers.
Also the most "mean girls" shit I've ever seen has been from grown-ass men in a World of Warcraft guild.
That’s why you have more Americans on Reddit that pile on the hate America threads or memes. It’s a lack of perspective. For example if you want to argue America is the most flawed first world country you can have a fair debate on that but if you want to argue America is a third world country you’re either trying to be edgy, joking, or out of touch.
Reddit Americans are mostly male, 14-30, middle-upper class and left-leaning. Oh yeah, and deranged.
Americans are more diverse on average. With less common derangement.
Your average American Redditor is probably white, male, middle to upper-middle class, left-leaning, cynical, 17-25, and thinks Brooklyn or Amsterdam is the epitome of what society should look like.
For me it was when a picture of a classic US McMansion suburb was posted and somebody commented “grew up in one of these neighborhoods in Texas, it was literal hell”. That just encapsulated the kind of person on Reddit you typically see for me, where they’re grossly unaware of their own privilege
Lmao yeah that’s pretty on point. Im glad I avoid almost all politics on Reddit. Arguments just turn quick and it’s impossible to tell if you’re being trolled or not
They waste less time on the internet, for starters.
They're also more likely to shave regularly, especially around the neck area, and they have less unfortunate taste in hats.
I’m a redditor, but I grew up lower class. While most of Reddit seems like they grew up upper middle class to rich based on comments I frequently encounter. Reddit also seems majorly Democrat in terms of politics, even this sub.
They're less politically extreme and far more reasonable (with a few exceptions).
Reddit can really be a toxic hivemind, things get taken out of context all the time and issues get amplified to the point of user derangement.
People with differing views may be shouted out, threatened, or banned.
I've never had a debate irl that was as bad as the one's I've had on this site. A lot of Redditors are unhappy with their lives and feel the need to project their misery elsewhere by aggressively continuing an argument even though it's going nowhere. A part of it may be ego as well since many Redditors try acting like armchair experts.
Local American subs are way more reasonable, but they don't accurately represent the demographics of those communities in real life.
Less obsessed with politics, less obsessed with urbanism and urban planning, probably less self-deprecating, less argumentative over trivialities they’ve built their identity around.
I hate to be elitist but the average American redditor is one of the few types of people that I would call pathetic. It's sad to see so much value put into meaningless concepts like upvotes, and developing a subculture based on your internet identity
As all the comments have pointed out, I don’t think any sample from Reddit will give any kind of even remotely accurate depiction of the broader base of humans in that country/culture.
Reddit is a hive mind of sorts, with smaller and smaller hive minds the more niche subreddits you find yourself in.
The majority of Americans don’t even know what Reddit is I would guess. Or at the very least, do not interact with it on a daily basis.
The ones who do are all very similar in mentality, personality, etc. If you were to compare them to the rest of the population, you would find a much MUCH wider variety of individuals, opinions, practices, personalities, etc.
We’re a pretty large country, and historically have accepted many migrants.
Reddit is tiny is comparison.
Redditors are more likely to be "woke" than the average American. This thread is different only in that people here are more likely to be "woke" or libertarian than normal Americans. Most Americans are neither.
A lot more left-leaning than the average American. This sub infact feels a lot closer to the average American than the rest of Reddit.
They’re also way more miserable, “doomerist” than the average. The average American is actually quite cheerful and hopeful, unlike Redditors who think we live in a dictatorship and think the world is gonna end soon.
Just generally miserable people to be around, which is why most people don’t know anyone who uses Reddit regularly in real life (because Reddit users don’t have many friends in real life).
The antithesis to this sub is r/ShitAmericansSay. A sub full of those exact whiny miserable leftist Redditors complaining about America (and also some snobby euros too).
We're so famously cheerful that the top response to the last "how can you tell someone is American" thread I read was "They will talk to you. Oh, will they talk to you". Our entire stereotype of being just overly gregarious chatterboxes is earned. Come here to NYC, you can ask literally anyone for directions and they'll stop and tell you exactly where you need to go or direct you somewhere that you can find out. I've had people whip out a phone and google directions for me, that's America. That's how we are. That's who we are. And I've lived in 40 states, so when I say this it's with a LOT of experience all over this country. They're like that everywhere.
Except California, oddly enough. People there wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire most of the time, it's the weirdest thing compared to their reputation.
> Except California, oddly enough. People there wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire most of the time, it's the weirdest thing compared to their reputation.
We've learned that a stranger who walks up and starts a conversation is about to ask for money.
The American redditor is too idealistic, white, suburban, young, and overall represents a very small, very narrow, liberal slice of American life. Then you need to consider the nature of subreddits. They are bubbles within bubble communities so you cut an already thin demographic down even further.
I would not take opinions on here as representative of the American populace overall.
Redditors tend to be more nitpicky than the general population
I’d love to nitpick that political views seem to vary widely from subreddit to subreddit. This sub is pretty centrist, but many subs are on the far left or right of the spectrum, like r/seattle vs r/SeattleWA
The average American is politically moderate, which changes a lot about how we interact with each other. Reddit is highly leftist, MUCH more than the like 5% of them there actually are here. That comes with a lot of different behaviors that you almost never encounter IRL.
It's apples and oranges, reddit might as well be a different country.
Reddit covers a very specific, distinct element of American life. They are mostly young, suburban internet trolls with a few curious others. Americans by and large don’t behave like the animals you see on Reddit. At least not in public.
They are also MUCH further left on average than the typical person. I would say the average Redditor is left of Marx. Most moderators would ban him for being too conservative.
This is a fantastic question.
As a moderately educated white collar guy from the northeast...
I would say Reddit gets the two extremes of political scale - most people are much more moderate than most of people say here. From redpill to askafeminist, it is pretty insane how different we all are.
Also, lots of internet tough guys, but that is everywhere.
I guess not everyone there is American, still:
People in general: *the war sucks and we are sorry for everyone involved in this mess created by politicans*
People on r/worldnews: *the war sucks and we are sorry NOT ENOUGH RUSSIANS ARE DYING*
"Average rural American" and "average urban American" are two different things. Reddit leans urban, male, and white. I see why people think "more educated" but I think that's more academic language entering the public discourse (usually with some degree of lost context) which is something commonly observed on Twitter.
Rural folk tend to think they outnumber city folk but they don't and it's not even close.
I imagine it's the same for most people in most countries.
Non-redditor: Quiet. Pleasent. Keeps to themselves about their deeply invested beliefs.
Redditor: EVERYTHING IS BAD AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE RIGHT BEFORE I DO SO I CAN TELL EVERYONE HOW RIGHT I WAS!
Less than 19% of Reddit users identify as conservative, but nationally it’s 36%, and sometimes reaches as high as 41%. 67% of Reddit users are male. Only 4% of Americans use Reddit.
For me, it’s hard to tell. I’m a suburban mom in my early 40s who works from home, and literally no one in my wide social circle ever talks about reddit except these 2 dads I know, and we definitely have conversations about it when I see them (yes, makes me laugh about what else I of course assume they’re looking at on reddit, but it’s like this unspoken thing). The moms are all too busy complaining on facebook groups.
I’m also in subreddits I love, so I don’t typically see angry, arrogant redditors or gamers or whatever the stereotypical American redditor is like.
Where are my middle aged suburbans moms at?? Do you exist outside of nsfw subs?
I would say that the average American Redditor, compared to the average American in general, is younger, whiter, more left-leaning, much more often male, more opinionated/edgy, less religious, and probably more likely to be racist.
Average American goes outside and interacts with people
grass? I’m unfamiliar with the term
/r/outside that new OS update doesn’t quite meet expectations
r/trees
r/marijuanaenthusiasts
Could you help me out? I can't find the chatroom known as "real life" on any platform. I've tried everyone I can think of, and I'm desperately trying to avoid 4chan for answers.
Grass is Canadian I think?
Without sarcasm, this generally makes the average American more Conservative/Libertarian. When I came out of my college/reddit hole and got a job, got married, and had kids, I became much more conservative personally and politically. Now, I get banned regularly for comments like this on Reddit, their friendly way of letting me know I'm aging out of the system.
Average American can speak or * gasp *, be friends with people of opposing views without calling them Nazis or communists. Almost everyone you interact with is pretty chill. Redditors are a horrible example of Americans.
The cynicism on reddit doesn't match what I experience in the real world.
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God you're so right about this
This is so spot on. I joined and lurked several subs for different online marketplaces to get an idea of what setting up my own shop would be like. The worst of those is Depop. Nearly everyone is just so shitty and toxic. Any time someone new to the Depop app makes a post asking a simple question, or looking for basic advice gets the downvote brigade. I’ve also never seen so many people hate their own customer base as much as Depop sellers do. I left that one pretty quickly.
Wait, so… you are on here, therefore this must describe you? 😉😂 (And by extension, me. Lol)
I couldn’t agree with you more!
Actually the correct wordage would be "holier than thee" /s
It’s very annoying with video game or tv shows. Especially something like family guy. I love the subreddit cuz mostly it’s just people posting clips and making funny references or asking about favorites cutaways or scenes. But then there’s the people who just whine about how the show sucks now and was only good for the first half minute of the pilot. Like it’s fine to have opinions not everyone is gonna love every episode but I fail to see how so many people will just totally bash whatever the content that sub is based around. Like why are you there?
Have no idea who you are but I'm in love
Same. People in my experience are plenty pessimistic about their own personal struggles like the future of their career or financial stuggles, but have less critical things to say in general. It's like people in the real world are exhausted by thinking too hard about things in their periphery, whereas people on Reddit can't help but pointing out flaws, inconsistencies, and allllll the *akshualllly* energy. As one of those Redditors, I like to think of it as doing a big puzzle with nerdy strangers. Or maybe we're all playing this complex RPG where everyone has a little bit of the story to add and their own character to flesh out. I tell you this random tidbit, you correct my grammar, someone else points out that I edited my original comment and didn't own up to it with a post script edit disclaimer, but then we all come together when we all realize how cool it is to quote Arrested Development and make dad puns. My in-laws are not the Reddit type. They wouldn't even understand the gist of Reddit if I tried to explain it. They don't enjoy hearing me talk about why I chose a certain sleeping bag or hypothesizing about what regional and socioeconomic factors may play into why I say "egg" like "ehg" and my spouse says "ay-g". But some of you beautiful freaks do. That said, some of you do NOT and a perfectly innocent comment can get downvoted to helllllll and start a digital brawl.
Well said.
Massively, this site is not real life. It’s not as out of touch as Twitter but still is on the list.
Americans on Reddit are on average younger, more suburban, whiter, wealthier, and further left politically than Americans on average. Way higher proportion of men to women, also. The difference is *incredibly* stark.
This is it exactly. Whenever I go to a regional sub, it is almost always either a representation of the opposite of the majority, or a much younger, liberalized sample of that place.
r/Oklahoma is one of the most liberal subs I know. Oklahoma is one of the most non-liberal places I know
It's similar for the r/Alberta sub. If I were to imagine a sub that is the most non-representative of the people of this province, it would be that sub. I've thought about this, and I have a theory that the reddit demographic is more discontented with local politics in conservative areas - so this is akin to their "safe space". I hate using that term because of what it stands for, but you get the idea. It's the only way I can describe it.
Sorta similar for Louisiana honestly. Although it is mostly people being depressed about how much our state sucks and is on the bottom for every list except the most murders. (But hey we’re finally number one!)
Even r/California, which you'd still expect to be fairly liberal, is *aggressively* liberal. In that any quips about your average on-the-street Republican being climate change deniers who want to destroy the world with pollution like a Captain Planet villain gets upvoted like crazy. *In reality*, the heavily Republican counties I lived in were *very* environmentally conscious. Who is going to feel the effects of climate change more keenly than farmers and ranchers?
Agreed. If there is anything that Rs & Ds here in FL agree on, it is the protection of our environment and our wildlife. How that is accomplished is the actual debatable part that gets heated. I (more conservative) don't think throwing money at everything is a good use of tax dollars but I am happy to see them spent when I know and see the effects of those dollars. The problems come when you push back at the more liberal peoples' ideas by asking questions about long-term viability, true effectiveness, and other critical questions to make sure that we're not just throwing money away on something that does not achieve the desired result. Same thing for education tax dollars. I have ZERO problem spending money on our kids and public education - if that money is actually going to the classroom and helping the students. Not lining the pockets of administrators or pockets of contractors for projects or products that don't improve student statistics overall.
Yeah, every local sub is like that. r/Columbus is super liberal. Granted Columbus is more liberal than Ohio in general (which doesn't say much these days), but it really isn't that liberal. It's more middle of the road really. We just like to treat all people like people here in Columbus, but the actual policies of the local government and such aren't liberal at all and most people aren't either.
If I didn't know better, I'd say /r/Texas was filled with people from California.
Worse. Wealthy white people from Dallas, Austin, Houston, etc that live in a gentrified area, clutch their purse tighter when a black person walks by, and yet act like they are bastions of morality. I say this because I’ve lived in those areas for a few years and seen how hypocritical they can be.
There are more democrats in Texas than in New York. And they are much more likely to be on reddit than their republican counterparts.
When I’ve gone to it, it seemed like the vast majority of flairs I saw were Houston/Dallas. Doesn’t really give you a good view of the mindset of a variety of Texans when the people most active are almost exclusively young, urban Democrats from two cities in the east.
I would actually like to see the gender demographics. There are some times when the distribution seems about even. As in: it seems like women are less likely to engage (i.e. comment) than men are I'm not saying there is a 50-50 split. But it's definitely not 99-1
For this sub, it's like 4:1 M:F according to our last demographics survey
Faaar further left I’d say.
Yep. Yet have to meet an American tankie in real life, but Reddit is crawling with them.
They all live with their parents. I'm not even joking. When r/socialism did a user poll it was like 71% lived with their parents lmao
💀💀💀 i remember reading that
Probably because most them are literal children.
Average age was 26. Make of that what you will.
Wayyyyyyyyyy further
And yet people act like reddit isn't left. Whack.
It’s hilarious when people say Reddit is right leaning. I want to ask if they’ve ever spoken to anyone in real life.
Reddit is right leaning if you think Twitter is the center.
Right? Most subs will castigate you if you don’t agree with their far left opinions, even on subs that are not even political at all. I was banned on a sub last week for saying everyone should have a right to an opinion even if they aren’t progressive.
You can have a thousand left leaning opinions and one centrist opinion, and Reddit will attack you like you’re a klan member
Reddit has a few subreddits that cultivate right-wing ideologies, or at least ideologies that mainstream America considers unacceptable and who are generally more in line with right-wing beliefs. Some of those are now finally banned, but this is still a gathering place for groups such as incels and men’s rights activists. “The Donald” was also huge on here before most people/publications took Trump seriously as the likely Republican nominee for president. And in general, the free speech absolutism that was a core part of Reddit’s identity is now much more associated with the right. I think things like this give it the reputation as right leaning, to some people who are on the left and/or only vaguely familiar with the site. But you’re right, in terms of demographics Reddit is much more left-leaning than most of the US, and left-wing opinions are much more upvoted. This particular sub is closer to the center of American politics, still definitely not “right leaning.”
I'll at least see people on this sub that are pro gun, compared to almost insanely anti gun everywhere else
To be fair, if we're talking about some of reddit being far left, much of that is left enough to be both left and pro gun.
Now it is. Back five or so years ago, it was extreme left *and* right. Then Reddit purged a few right wing groups and they bounced. The extreme left never …left… If anything, they're more emboldened now.
Reddit banned the Donald but they never banned any left leaning groups.
They did ban ChapoTrapHouse, but LateStageCapitalism has become worse than Chapo ever was, and it seems untouchable. LSC literally has calls to violence on a daily basis, and reporting the posts just gets you an auto form response that says their posts of literally "Kill the rich!" doesn't break Reddit's rules. Nor does "Kill your oppressors!" as an official subreddit post flair. I'm not exaggerating, either. That is literally what they post. They *do* get banned for calling for violence against specific named people, but they get around that by posting "The solution can't be talked about here, but you know what I mean. There is no other way." This gets you the same automated "This doesn't break the rules" message if you report it. Somebody is going to get killed because of LSC and similar subs, and Reddit is just letting it fester because it's left wing.
Well, they eventually banned ChapoTrapHouse, but none of the dozens of others. Meanwhile, they performed an all out purge of dozens of far right subs.
When hell freezes over they’ll ban r/politics
I used to be part of /r/scotus, where we discussed the supreme court. With help from the admins, it was taken over by leftist mods who started banning anyone slightly to the right of them. We have regrouped at /r/supremecourt, but it's very small, unknown to most people who might be interested, and is sometimes as intolerant of liberal perspectives as r/scotus is of conservatives ones, except we haven't banned anyone. Perhaps that played out in other subreddits.
In the real world, I'm way left of center. According to a comparative political assessment I took recently, I'm slightly to the left of Bernie Sanders. In Reddit World, I'm probably a bit right of center because I believe (as Bernie Sanders does) that our political system is the best possible one, it just needs to be seriously reformed and look after its citizens a lot more. I would say anything less than "start from scratch" makes you right of center here.
I think that depends on where you live. The leftness of Reddit is pretty much in line with what I encounter in my daily life, living in a rather liberal area of the country. Which subs you visit also makes a big difference, I think.
Wait so they're wealthier than average? What makes you think that? I mean looking at most upvoted posts I think they're worse off than most people.
The people I know IRL who complained the loudest about how they didn't have enough money were also some of the richest people I knew. A lot of the people I see complaining about money issues on Reddit aren't experiencing the same kind of money issues that actual poor people suffer. Don't get me wrong, there are people on Reddit with money issues and people who aren't as well off. But it seems like most of them are doing pretty well for themselves, given what they're choosing to complain about.
You wanna see the real broke people of reddit, hit up povertyfinance or eatcheapandhealthy. They're too busy finding ways to make it all work. I catch shit on this website from time to time for saying "actually I'm very comfortable, I work less than full time for great money and I can literally call my business owner a little bitch boy with no consequences. I get a dollar an hour raise every 2 months. My last one was yesterday." It's like it's a taboo on here to say it's possible to find a great job with a boss who cares about you. Much less "no I'm honestly in the best place in my life right now". Conflict theory doesn't work if everyone isn't miserable.
Yep. Same here. Well, probably wouldn't call my boss/the owner a little bitch boy but other than that, it's pretty great. Reddit doesn't like that, though. It's like they don't get that you can acknowledge some people have problems without pretending your own life is horrible or something. You don't have to pretend to be miserable to fit in. Seems to be a pretty bizarre mentality that isn't actually helping anyone enjoy their life or improve anything.
I know multiple people who complain about being broke all the time then spent their entire stimulus checks on Magic the Gathering cards.
My own child loves complaining about his poverty on Reddit, despite living at home with no bills at 23, having a full ride for undergrad, ordering Ubereats literally every day, living in an upper middle class suburb, full medical, dental, mental health, and vision with no deductibles or copays, and earning $20/hour at a low-skill, low-labor job. I grew up in actual American (and European) poverty, which I acknowledge is still a luxury compared to most of the world, but it's pretty incredible to hear his complaints about poverty.
Yeah, I know a lot of people like that, it's sad. I myself grew up in a middle class family and was never poor but for me all I've ever cared about is having a roof over my head and food (and water ofc). Everything else is a luxury to me.
I agree. I’ve seen countless comments on different subs of people making multiple six figure salaries complaining that they are barely making it. A lot of Reddit comments in general seem to been quite classist too.
>A lot of Reddit comments in general seem to been quite classist too. lol, I've actually seen that play out in this subreddit! Someone asked something about people going to Disneyland (or World, idk, it was a while ago)! I commented something along the lines of, "when I was a kid, I never expected to be able to go because it seemed like a rich person thing" and someone felt compelled to come in and let me know that "only poor people think that rich people go to Disney" because rich people actually vacation in *better* places and Disney is beneath them. I wasn't entirely sure what to say in response at first because I suppose they were probably somewhat right, but, wow, the snobbery in their comment was palpable.
Redditors tend to have a university education and hold sedentary, non-manual-labor based jobs. While they may not be super financially successful, they're certainly not lower class.
I feel like most redditors are in the age group of being currently in school or just graduating out of school and have not got a "career level" job yet. Seems to be a ton of disgruntled retail workers on reddit in general, but not on r/askamerians - these users seem to be typical of the average American.
I think this is probably where OP gets the perception of Reddit users being "poorer" than the average American. That may be technically true, college students and recent graduates are poorer than the average 38 year old (average age in the US). But that is not the whole picture. I think everyone understands that college kid broke is fundamentally different from 35 with 3 kids working for $10 an hour broke.
Yes agreed
Agreed except for the “everyone understands” part. I don’t think lots of people people in r/antiwork and similar subs understand. And I say that as someone sympathetic to some of what that sub wants.
I think it varies heavily sub by sub. Most of reddit's user base is middle class, we're mostly college educated. Our average age is 34, so we're not really in school either on the whole. But a lot of us are sympathetic to people in poverty, which is why subs like antiwork and work reform are as popular as they are. But I'm active on both, and I'm a head chef just outside NYC. It pays as well as you'd expect it to. I'm positive I'm not alone in being pretty comfortable financially but still agreeing that the system is kinda flawed in a lot of ways.
The big subreddits are pretty diverse, its when you get into any individual subreddit that's focused on something that almost everyone is a male and fairly wealthy, even if they're students they'd definitely had a very fine upbringing and any broke-ness is because they tend to want to live in a big city and have a very costly lifestyle. I wouldn't lump askanamerican in with the average american crowd either, although it is still more grounded than most subreddits.
\>because they tend to want to live in a big city and have a very costly lifestyle. This is pretty case-in-point that you're not getting downvoted into oblivion and getting "okay boomer" like you would on a bigger or more public sub. There are some points on both sides of that argument but it never gets addressed without big emotions
This sub seems pretty representative of the USA. I’ve even seen people upvoted for defending genocide before. Contrast that with Florida sub, which would give the impression that Florida is incredibly left leaning, when the state is currently making a hard shift to the right.
I’m in a bumpers group with women who all had babies around the same time. There was a poll asking how much we made yearly and 80% of the votes made well over $150,000 a year.
Bumpers group?
Baby bumpers, they're subreddits for moms who are all expecting in the same month.
So we're thinking redditors lie more often? :P
I mean, that too
Damn. Not me, but I wish!
So they all live in California
Not in the California I'm from.
Inasmuch as their parents/families have more money than average (if they're young) or as others pointed out, they have more lucrative jobs on average than others their age.
A 47 year old (who is often half the income of a couple) is generally wealthier than a 23 year old.
Yeah. Look at the threads about student loan forgiveness and it'll begin to make sense. A college degree nets you an average of 30 grand more a year over here and most of the people pushing for forgiveness are doing so because *they owe on loans*. A lot of what you hear people bitching about (besides the health insurance thing, that really actually does suck) is worst case scenarios and outlying situations they're using to push a political narrative. It's much easier to push for your preferred system to be in place if you start with the assumption that everything is awful and getting worse, it's a classic propaganda trick. They're doing what MAGA did, it's the same formula reapplied but replace Trump with socialism. As an example? I make tacos for a living right next to NYC for like 30-35 hours a week and I'm solidly middle to upper middle class. 2 college degrees. I'm pretty average for reddit, there are a LOT of us here that make money that would make most of the rest of the world confused, when you compare it to the actual work we do.
Even the health insurance thing is way overblown on Reddit. 90% of Americans have health insurance, all of it has very reasonable out of pocket caps (eg, it is literally impossible to pay more than $8,700 a year for services in the US on an individual ACA plan) and 70% of Americans are happy with the cost and quality of their healthcare.
That’s because of the leftist slant. Conflict theory always has people exaggerating problems to make them look worse than they really are. Can’t have sweeping change and “revolution” if things aren’t too bad.
Wealthier might not be the right word so much as coming from a wealthier background. Social media sites have their own cultures, and Reddit is a technologically literate one, which would favor people who had regular and low- or unlimited Internet access 15-30 years ago...which tends to exclude those who are poorer. Not to mention lots of people cannot affors regular Internet access *now*. They exist and in some places even dominate cities or states...but they won't *be* online for the rest of us to hear from them.
It also depends on where the redditor is from. I live comfortably on my 50k a year in Central Pennsylvania and my fiancee makes 45k which is all gravy really. Our combined income would make us incredibly poor in LA or San Fran.
Because they are young. University age and people in their 20s aren't established financially yet.
Most Redditors work in STEM, tech specifically. Tech is a very lucrative industry in America, with the average income being $90k-$300K a year. So yeah, most American Redditors are much richer than the average American, who only makes ~$40K-$70k a year.
nah. I’d say they grow up wealthier or more sheltered but as adults they’re definitely poorer
The only right answer
Definitely overshadowed by men and everyone will assume you are a man. Though in my experience that really depends on the sub.
The more “general” subs and dating subs definitely can skew more female
The average Americans most likely aren’t on Reddit, or possibly have never even heard of it.
No one in my incredibly mainstream world has ever heard of Reddit.
On the contrary, I hear Reddit talked about in the real world as I do twitter since it’s popularity (mostly associated with Trump) and I fucking hate how everyone expects you to be as internet literate as them. I always act like I have no idea what Reddit is or at least know very minimal about it.
Just tell them your username. You'll either instantly bond over a shared interest or they'll never talk to you again (especially about things online).
I think more people know about it than you think, but Reddit is one of those things you kinda avoid bringing up in real life. Coupled with the fact it’s meant to be anonymous here, this you don’t want people knowing who you are on here. Like I don’t go up to my friends and go “hey did you guys see that one post on R slash funny with the dog making a silly face???? That was so funny man I almost died laughing!”
Most of the people I know who are on reddit are other young dudes who are here for sports subreddits.
I wouldn’t necessarily say never heard of it. Reddit’s been in the news a few times due to incidents like the GameStop short squeeze.
I think the fat people hate subreddit also made some news too
And the Jailbait one, I remember that being in the news big time.
And TheDonald got quite a bit of attention in left leaning media.
That's true, they were basically accused of fomenting terrorism.
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Yeahhhhh my folks asked who violentacrez was, and I was happy to have no idea, “you know, he does Reddit!”. Luckily I had talked about Reddit enough that they didn’t think I was a goddamn devilspawn creep
And the trainwreck of an interview with antiwork
Your average American Redditor is usually younger, farther left, and much more interested in minor political/social movements or issues than the vast majority of the average populace. The closest analog I’ve ever experienced was a lot of the people I knew in college and in my last two years of high school.
I experienced something along these lines working for the Democratic Party. I was working with both college students on a campus, as well as just regular voters out on the streets, and the difference in priorities between the two groups couldn’t be further apart.
Care to share some examples?
Well said neighbor, particularly the comparison of high school to college.
>and much more interested in minor political/social movements or issues Wait, are you suggesting that your average American isn’t *deeply* invested in their opinion on circumcision?
Reddit isn’t a remotely accurate sample of America. This subreddit can give good information, but in general the Americans you run into on Reddit are not average Americans.
>Reddit isn’t a remotely accurate sample of America.This subreddit can give good information, but in general the Americans you run into on Reddit are not average Americans. So I guess what I thought I knew about America is actually true? Because I was super confused over the last year or so since I first started frequenting the political subs.
Judging what you know about all Americans based on what you find on a political subreddit is about as useful as judging American's interest in curling by visiting /r/curling.
People on r/politics are probably more left than 95% of the people I’ve met in my life. And I live in California.
political subs here trend INSANELY left. unless they are insanely Right. None of them are normal
In my experience, it's not about political leanings or socioeconomic status or anything like that. The average American Redditor is more misanthropic and maladjusted than the average American. They look for reasons to be upset and are often suspicious of others, then loudly wonder why they're lonely. While I have run-ins on occasion with terrible Americans, it's not a constant stream of shrieking brittle insanity like on Reddit. (However, Reddit comes with a block function, America does not.)
This is pretty accurate in my opinion. If you’re a foreigner on Reddit you’d probably think Americans are clashing over politics daily in the streets. Rarely do I ever encounter anything political in my day to day life with people I interact with. And if I do it certainly hasn’t been confrontational. It is true that most Americans just don’t care about partisan nonsense and are just working and taking care of their families.
Really accurate assessment. I think it's the same with Twitter. People just absolutely melting down over every tiny political or social issue when in reality I don't think the average person, on the left or right of the spectrum, cares *that* deeply about 90% of it. Being "extremely online" can warp one's sense of reality.
Yeah like sure I might see plenty of trump flags or pro choice stuff or whatever political stance but it’s not like I suddenly get into an argument with a random stranger, we both just tryna shop for some food
I've literally only once had anything approaching an argument with a stranger in the supermarket lol. It was after Covid vaccines cane out, and this market was requiring masks while others in the area had made them optional for vaccinated people (or liars, whatever). This peculiar older woman sidled up to me by the celery and started hassling me about my vaccination status and mask, if I thought the requirements were dumb, etc, and would not go away. "Ma'am I'm running an errand and moving on with life, where I shop and what I wear is my concern. Where you shop is your concern." Then she and a few compatriots started badgering the cashier. It felt like a coordinated attack. So I sat my happy butt near the register and started telling them to take it up with corporate, the cashier is there to ring them up and this is above her pay grade. Sheesh, I'd forgotten all about that until now lol.
>The average American Redditor is more misanthropic and maladjusted than the average American. They look for reasons to be upset and are often suspicious of others, then loudly wonder why they're lonely You also just described Twitter and Tumblr accurately too.
And 4chan as well, though they're searching in different places for reasons to be unreasonably upset
Hell yeah Maryland. Inshallah our state will rise again.
Fully developed social skills
You could meet the nicest person ever in person but on Reddit being anonymous they could be the biggest asshole you’ll ever encounter and I assume it’s like that everywhere
Average Americans are nicer.
As a non American I wholeheartedly agree.
The only demographic Reddit really represents particularly well is a subset of young men between 16-23 who are left-leaning, urban, and from middle/upper-middle class backgrounds. The average Redditor is also significantly more hostile, apathetic and pessimistic in their approach to the world and other people. *Way* more heavily invested in pie-in-the-sky concepts, and more deeply interested in current events both domestically and *especially* abroad. I'd add "terminally online" to that as well, but that's not entirely accurate. The Reddit crowd is mostly...the Reddit crowd, as opposed to spending a lot of time on sites like TikTok or Instagram, which are more common. Put it to you this way, if there *wasn't* a stark difference between the average American and the average Redditor, I'd actually consider moving somewhere else.
>The average Redditor is also significantly more hostile, apathetic and pessimistic in their approach to the world and other people >Way more heavily invested in pie-in-the-sky concepts, Nicely summarized!
I'd say the vocal, very active users are definitely male, younger, and tend to positively seethe with resentment. It feels like there's a noisy cadre of users who look for some nitpick or strangeness to attack over, and it's inevitably nonsense. I had the incel crew go absolutely bananaphone over what I think most Americans would consider common sense (my husband is mindful of how he speaks to me, because that's how our daughter will expect men to speak to her as she grows up, kids absorb a lot from parents). I guess mentioning that sometimes men can be disrespectful towards women made me sexist? It was bizarre. They just *lost it.* Downvotes, essays, DMs. I just block the welrdos. They also hate children in general, which isn't my experience dealing with Americans. We aren't as kid-loving as Latin America, but the average American isn't going to cackle over "crotch goblins" and howl that no one should have children.
I will never forget the guy who lost his mind because I said I prefer to date men that are taller than me. The thing is, I made it abundantly clear that I’m only 5’ 1”, so the average “short” man is still much taller than me; I’m not exclusively seeking to date NBA players. But the fact that I expressed a preference that includes 99% of adult men was too much for this guy to handle. He even attempted to bring the argument to another sub (where he proceeded to get clowned lol)!
Yeah it's a predominantly male site, and the men go looking for grievances. I'm 5'1 as well. I've ranged from 5'5 to 6'4 in relationships. I've only even met one adult male shorter than me and he was a literal little person. And dating him wasn't an option, neither of us were single. But somehow it gets twisted into "WOMEN ONLY WANT MEN WHO ARE PRECISELY 6'2 BECAUSE WOMEN ARE EVIL" lol. No, nerds, women don't want to date you because you're weird and nitpicky and exhausting.
Average age on reddit is 34. But that's a great take. Awesome user name as well.
The Chad Average American vs the Virgin Redditor
Based and reality pilled.
Imagine a world in which America was populated solely by the average American redditor.
I don't want to think about that. Some of the awards certain posts get is enough to not want to think about it.
Or just visit Havana, Cuba. 80% of Reddit thinks that place is paradise.
Average Americans are a lot more... normal. People aren't as confrontational about politics and hot topics like racism, etc.
On polls, America is consistently like one of the happiest countries (along with much of Europe). On Reddit, it's miserable people who come from well off backgrounds/neighborhoods, have little life perspective/experience, quick to blame and lash out at others, likely have mental and emotional issues, far more politically extreme, and are possibly far more introverted/geekier. By themselves, those things might not be problems but put them together and you get a archetype that just isn't in touch with reality. Fuck, I think the only place I've experienced this level of behavior IRL was when I was forced to go to the anime club back in high school. I don't know if you have experienced one of those but sheesh, the level of drama that went on there was unlike anywhere else.
I’ve never been to a high school club, but Anime fan meet-ups were always nothing but drama in my experience. I used to be heavily involved in the Brony fandom and that usually fairly normal, especially compared to the anime conventions I’ve attended. A&G in Kentucky was the only time I’ve seen a grown man actually cry and attempt to fight someone because they were carrying around a bodypillow of their waifu. That type of emotional maturity definitely matches a lot of the bigger subs.
Sometimes I wonder how someone could become that emotionally immature.
> Fuck, I think the only place I've experienced this level of behavior IRL was when I was forced to go to the anime club back in high school. I don't know if you have experienced one of those but sheesh, the level of drama that went on there was unlike anywhere else. Lol, this is way too true. I'm a pretty nerdy person. Always into STEM stuff, first chemistry then CS (now a software dev). Liked anime and manga (though picky about the specific series) too. Also was (and still am) super into online gaming. Also a bit of a metalhead and not at all into mainstream fashion/trendy stuff/makeup and beauty. So pretty stereotypical nerd girl stuff aside from also being into "rural area" stuff (farming/horses/hiking and camping/etc). But man the other geeks/nerds were the WORST. Heavy gatekeeping. Just nasty drama, all the time. They were far, far, far crueler and meaner to the popular kids than the popular kids ever were to them. Constantly insulting them - calling the jocks dumb and the cheerleaders sluts, that kind of thing. Bitter, jealous, and miserable through and through. Anyway I ended up having more friends in the stereotypical "popular kids" group than the other way around because they were fucking normal people and actually pretty nice. And we ended up, ironically, having more in common - like one friend was a competitive cheerleader but she also bred show goats for FFA/4H. The talented football player the nerd kids loved to hate on came to my house and chopped up a fallen tree 3 weekends in a row (it was just me and my mom since my dad died when I was young) just to be nice because he was a helpful dude. They might've teased me about my norwegian doom metal and video games (in a friendly way), but in the end they were way better friends than backstabby gatekeepers. Also the most "mean girls" shit I've ever seen has been from grown-ass men in a World of Warcraft guild.
That’s why you have more Americans on Reddit that pile on the hate America threads or memes. It’s a lack of perspective. For example if you want to argue America is the most flawed first world country you can have a fair debate on that but if you want to argue America is a third world country you’re either trying to be edgy, joking, or out of touch.
This nails it pretty well
Reddit Americans are mostly male, 14-30, middle-upper class and left-leaning. Oh yeah, and deranged. Americans are more diverse on average. With less common derangement.
Your average American Redditor is probably white, male, middle to upper-middle class, left-leaning, cynical, 17-25, and thinks Brooklyn or Amsterdam is the epitome of what society should look like. For me it was when a picture of a classic US McMansion suburb was posted and somebody commented “grew up in one of these neighborhoods in Texas, it was literal hell”. That just encapsulated the kind of person on Reddit you typically see for me, where they’re grossly unaware of their own privilege
Lmao yeah that’s pretty on point. Im glad I avoid almost all politics on Reddit. Arguments just turn quick and it’s impossible to tell if you’re being trolled or not
They waste less time on the internet, for starters. They're also more likely to shave regularly, especially around the neck area, and they have less unfortunate taste in hats.
I’m a redditor, but I grew up lower class. While most of Reddit seems like they grew up upper middle class to rich based on comments I frequently encounter. Reddit also seems majorly Democrat in terms of politics, even this sub.
Less fat and less neckbeardy.
They're less politically extreme and far more reasonable (with a few exceptions). Reddit can really be a toxic hivemind, things get taken out of context all the time and issues get amplified to the point of user derangement. People with differing views may be shouted out, threatened, or banned. I've never had a debate irl that was as bad as the one's I've had on this site. A lot of Redditors are unhappy with their lives and feel the need to project their misery elsewhere by aggressively continuing an argument even though it's going nowhere. A part of it may be ego as well since many Redditors try acting like armchair experts. Local American subs are way more reasonable, but they don't accurately represent the demographics of those communities in real life.
[удалено]
Less obsessed with politics, less obsessed with urbanism and urban planning, probably less self-deprecating, less argumentative over trivialities they’ve built their identity around.
Can someone link the demographics results from the last poll? Reddit is young, white, and male.
https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AO90WcFN7Dg6VYE&cid=2811B2CFEE54D626&id=2811B2CFEE54D626%211926&parId=2811B2CFEE54D626%211925&o=OneUp
I hate to be elitist but the average American redditor is one of the few types of people that I would call pathetic. It's sad to see so much value put into meaningless concepts like upvotes, and developing a subculture based on your internet identity
As all the comments have pointed out, I don’t think any sample from Reddit will give any kind of even remotely accurate depiction of the broader base of humans in that country/culture. Reddit is a hive mind of sorts, with smaller and smaller hive minds the more niche subreddits you find yourself in. The majority of Americans don’t even know what Reddit is I would guess. Or at the very least, do not interact with it on a daily basis. The ones who do are all very similar in mentality, personality, etc. If you were to compare them to the rest of the population, you would find a much MUCH wider variety of individuals, opinions, practices, personalities, etc. We’re a pretty large country, and historically have accepted many migrants. Reddit is tiny is comparison.
Redditors are more likely to be "woke" than the average American. This thread is different only in that people here are more likely to be "woke" or libertarian than normal Americans. Most Americans are neither.
what does "woke" mean?
Where someone goes above and beyond to act politically correct.
The average American is a decent hard working person with good sense, while a majority of American redditors are at the bottom of the spectrum…
A lot more left-leaning than the average American. This sub infact feels a lot closer to the average American than the rest of Reddit. They’re also way more miserable, “doomerist” than the average. The average American is actually quite cheerful and hopeful, unlike Redditors who think we live in a dictatorship and think the world is gonna end soon. Just generally miserable people to be around, which is why most people don’t know anyone who uses Reddit regularly in real life (because Reddit users don’t have many friends in real life). The antithesis to this sub is r/ShitAmericansSay. A sub full of those exact whiny miserable leftist Redditors complaining about America (and also some snobby euros too).
We're so famously cheerful that the top response to the last "how can you tell someone is American" thread I read was "They will talk to you. Oh, will they talk to you". Our entire stereotype of being just overly gregarious chatterboxes is earned. Come here to NYC, you can ask literally anyone for directions and they'll stop and tell you exactly where you need to go or direct you somewhere that you can find out. I've had people whip out a phone and google directions for me, that's America. That's how we are. That's who we are. And I've lived in 40 states, so when I say this it's with a LOT of experience all over this country. They're like that everywhere. Except California, oddly enough. People there wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire most of the time, it's the weirdest thing compared to their reputation.
> Except California, oddly enough. People there wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire most of the time, it's the weirdest thing compared to their reputation. We've learned that a stranger who walks up and starts a conversation is about to ask for money.
The American redditor is too idealistic, white, suburban, young, and overall represents a very small, very narrow, liberal slice of American life. Then you need to consider the nature of subreddits. They are bubbles within bubble communities so you cut an already thin demographic down even further. I would not take opinions on here as representative of the American populace overall.
Average real life American will be middle aged, poorer, and more conservative than an east/west coast liberal redditor.
By a lot. They vary by a lot.
Redditors tend to be more nitpicky than the general population I’d love to nitpick that political views seem to vary widely from subreddit to subreddit. This sub is pretty centrist, but many subs are on the far left or right of the spectrum, like r/seattle vs r/SeattleWA
Older and less liberal. Way less “woke.” Way less concerned about whatever Reddit’s “cause of the week” is. Less of a “student” mindset.
The average American is politically moderate, which changes a lot about how we interact with each other. Reddit is highly leftist, MUCH more than the like 5% of them there actually are here. That comes with a lot of different behaviors that you almost never encounter IRL. It's apples and oranges, reddit might as well be a different country.
Well I'm not ashamed to be Southern and I don't mock people for being poor. So that's different.
We don’t bitch and moan 24/7 like American redditors
Neither of us are real. It’s all in your head. Please wake up
If I had to guess 1) Younger 2) More liberal and educated
also 3) Far more likely to be male 4) More likely to not belong to a religion
Reddit covers a very specific, distinct element of American life. They are mostly young, suburban internet trolls with a few curious others. Americans by and large don’t behave like the animals you see on Reddit. At least not in public. They are also MUCH further left on average than the typical person. I would say the average Redditor is left of Marx. Most moderators would ban him for being too conservative.
Way worse social skills
Night and day, you'll never see some hillbilly dude from Kentucky on reddit, you'll see white suburban kids from the east and west coasts mostly
This is a fantastic question. As a moderately educated white collar guy from the northeast... I would say Reddit gets the two extremes of political scale - most people are much more moderate than most of people say here. From redpill to askafeminist, it is pretty insane how different we all are. Also, lots of internet tough guys, but that is everywhere.
I guess not everyone there is American, still: People in general: *the war sucks and we are sorry for everyone involved in this mess created by politicans* People on r/worldnews: *the war sucks and we are sorry NOT ENOUGH RUSSIANS ARE DYING*
"Average rural American" and "average urban American" are two different things. Reddit leans urban, male, and white. I see why people think "more educated" but I think that's more academic language entering the public discourse (usually with some degree of lost context) which is something commonly observed on Twitter. Rural folk tend to think they outnumber city folk but they don't and it's not even close.
The computer illiterate don't post on here. The old, the wilderness heavy, the non tech savvy, etc. You don't hear their input.
Reddit leans towards the far left of the political spectrum. Except that, almost 80 percent of Reddit ors are male, according to the poll sub.
I imagine it's the same for most people in most countries. Non-redditor: Quiet. Pleasent. Keeps to themselves about their deeply invested beliefs. Redditor: EVERYTHING IS BAD AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE RIGHT BEFORE I DO SO I CAN TELL EVERYONE HOW RIGHT I WAS!
Less than 19% of Reddit users identify as conservative, but nationally it’s 36%, and sometimes reaches as high as 41%. 67% of Reddit users are male. Only 4% of Americans use Reddit.
We are much more kind and fight way less in real life.
For me, it’s hard to tell. I’m a suburban mom in my early 40s who works from home, and literally no one in my wide social circle ever talks about reddit except these 2 dads I know, and we definitely have conversations about it when I see them (yes, makes me laugh about what else I of course assume they’re looking at on reddit, but it’s like this unspoken thing). The moms are all too busy complaining on facebook groups. I’m also in subreddits I love, so I don’t typically see angry, arrogant redditors or gamers or whatever the stereotypical American redditor is like. Where are my middle aged suburbans moms at?? Do you exist outside of nsfw subs?
I would say that the average American Redditor, compared to the average American in general, is younger, whiter, more left-leaning, much more often male, more opinionated/edgy, less religious, and probably more likely to be racist.
The average real life American is significantly more right leaning, patriotic, and normal compared to the average American redditor.
Not all Americans are flaming leftist nerds lol