Reddit Addiction

What is your favorite social media platform? Why? What demographic does it serve? Is it a positive influence or a negative addiction? Why?

Hello, my name is Anthony and I am Reddit addict. The Reddit app is one of the first things I open when I wake up and the last I close before I go to sleep. It is where I spend most of my time online. How could you not be addicted to something that is constantly being updated with new and enticing stories? It feels like every second there’s a new story to read or a new comment that brings more depth to a seemingly simple topic. Not only is it constantly updated but you can find information on anything you can think of. For instance, it’s a great place to find funny memes and is my current favorite place to find GIFs of puppies.

Reddit’s target demographic is Millennials but it does have a wide range of users, as I’ve seen users who claim they are in their 80s post along with young teenagers. According to Alexa Internet (a web traffic analysis company), Reddit saw 542 million monthly visitors and 234 million unique users in March 2019 alone That ranks it as the 6th most visited website in the U.S. and the  21st in the world. Clearly, I am not the only Reddit addict.

Reddit is mostly a positive influence as it’s a great place to find stories for my job. So many times, I’ve seen a post about an event or video that’s turned into a story that I’ve pitched to the newsroom. It’s a place to find varying viewpoints. For example, I follow the “libel”, “conservative”, “libertarian”, and “socialist” subreddits and it’s eye-opening to see how each group will spin a story and how Redditors support their side of the argument.

However, I feel Reddit is becoming more of an addiction for me. I can go on it for hours and it’s frightening to lose time like that. I’m working on limiting my time on the site and app every day. To all of you fellow Reddit addicts out there, thanks for letting me share.