this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2024
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I've been on Reddit for over a decade. But I'm done with that site and want to do something else. What do normal people look at on their phones? Is it all social media? Streaming?

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[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 124 points 1 year ago

I replaced it with Lemmy, so that's what an abnormal person does.

[–] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 105 points 1 year ago (6 children)

https://text.npr.org/

It's a breath of fresh air in an otherwise chaotic Internet user interface.

[–] 200ok@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago
[–] Lauchs@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Oh that's fantastic, thanks for sharing!

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[–] fortniteplaya@lemmy.zip 80 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If by normal people you mean the general public, my guess is just Tiktok and social media.

[–] schmidtster@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

But society says normal people aren’t supposed to be engrossed by their phones.

[–] sarcasticsunrise@lemmy.world 55 points 1 year ago

My amazing wife is normie/10, she watches usually TikTok cooking recipes or makeup videos. I'm trash man husbae, so I'm on Lemmy here with you

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 43 points 1 year ago (3 children)

How the hell would any of us know?

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[–] nycki@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago

Advertisements.

[–] IndiBrony@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] mertn@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Fingerprints

[–] reversebananimals@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

I ride the public bus every day, and I can tell you its basically all social media, messaging, YouTube and phone/video calls.

But you don't have to do the same thing everyone else does. You can play digital card games, chess, read a book, or put your phone in your pocket and listen to podcasts or music. And if you're not commuting, you can plug your phone in and do actual stuff.

[–] cabbage@piefed.social 25 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I feel like any time anyone is using their phones in public they're scrolling Instagram.

If you want to give an appearance of normalcy while maintaining a living soul, just get a Pixelfed account, follow a bunch of photographers, and scroll endlessly.

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[–] ElPussyKangaroo@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

Heh, look at you, asking this in Lemmy, as if we're all normal.

[–] Graphy@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Idk but wtf are people always doing on their phone in the car. Am I the weird one where I can’t even think of anything I’d like to do on my phone while driving? I can change media and text my wife all via voice control if I need to.

[–] ALostInquirer@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I used to try to use voice control for changing media when driving, but found it hilariously unreliable since it had to try to parse the voice command through the music. Is there a trick to that besides having a better mic I'm missing?

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[–] csm10495@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Lots of people are on TikTok and Instagram.

I on the other hand stare at the nearest wall.

[–] soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 year ago

I get the busy train to work every day and can confirm this statement. Everyone on Thier phones is either scrolling an app with pics/vids or messaging someone.

The few left look at a wall, no other category

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[–] HeavyRaptor@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Normal people? Probably mostly Facebook, Instagram and candy crush. You can just take a look at the top free apps in your app store but I'll give you a spoiler: it's 99% junk.

Okay so I actually checked. The top 3 are Temu (a ripoff shopping app), WhatsApp and Tiktok in my region

[–] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just checked too

Temu (sHoP LikE a biLLiONaIRe lol)

Shein (Shiet)

WhatsApp

Clearly the french like shit quality and chatting

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[–] kemsat@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

My wife scrolls through Instagram & plays mobile games. She’s pretty normal.

[–] TJDetweiler@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago

Wikipedia rabbit holes

[–] TheJims@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

If I ever find a normal person I’ll ask them for you.

[–] fievel@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago

Please define "normal people". ;)

[–] turkalino@lemmy.yachts 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You know how you scroll through your Instagram feed and then stop when you get to the big checkmark?

Yeah, normal people keep scrolling. For literally an hour or two at a time.

[–] SlothMama@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

What big checkmark???

[–] PutangInaMo@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I tried Instagram but it's like scrolling through Facebook videos.. all garbage.

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

After quitting Facebook and Instagram, I spend a lot more time reading books on my phone. I have found two apps to read and listen to free books through my library.

[–] thorbot@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I have Feedly app and a bunch of RSS feeds about tech, world news, board games, video games, robotics, space, and pop culture. It’s great! Sure I get a few duplicate articles from multiple sites covering the same thing but it’s nice little digital newspaper. And if one site keeps publishing stupid shit I can unsubscribe from it and it’s gone from my feed.

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[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 9 points 1 year ago

Normal people seem to look at a lot of social media, yes. Instagram, tiktok, whatever. Some people also have a lot of group chats.

Some people read. Your library probably offers free ebooks. Comics, too, when I want something even simpler.

[–] Xanis@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Dunno about normal, per se. I have adhd and when I'm not forgetting what I was about to do in the time between having the thought and picking up my phone, I am often diving down some rabbit hole. This might be a quick Google search in a definition, or to figure out where I heard a word. For example, a friend recently mentioned acid reflux. So my brain thought "GERD?", "GERDY??", "THE HERDY GERDY?!?" which led me to Wikipedia, then to a handful of rather cool videos on Youtube of people playing the instrument.

Er...

My point being: Use it as a helpful miscellaneous tool. Like a physical widget that can go along with near any activity.

[–] Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago

I check the weather, use my calendar, listen to podcasts, take notes, use the camera and occasionally browse lemmy while on a toilet like now

[–] jacktherippah@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Probably social media like Facebook, Instagram, ... Or video sharing sites like TikTok (yuck!) and YouTube.

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[–] AngelJamie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

From my observations: Normal people don't look at their phone; they listen to it.

If you're expecting normal people to answer: Do you even know where you are right now? :p

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[–] Thcdenton@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Porn. Lots and lots of porn.

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I watch stuff on libretube...But I'm not normal.

i read random wikipedia articles

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Probably* TikTok or some other stupid shit.

[–] endhits@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Pixel Dungeon is a great pickup/putdown game. Highly recommend.

[–] SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 year ago

TikTok, unfortunately.

[–] neptune@dmv.social 6 points 1 year ago

I'll second the idea that more than a few minutes of tiktok, YouTube shorts or Instagram reels is debilitating.

I look at lemmy or mastodon but I am very much less than normal.

[–] Jumi@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I like reading webcomics

[–] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

I am certainly not normal, but I either go on Lemmy through Voyager, or play geometry dash. I also sometimes read books with Librera.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

If you really want to detox, then put the phone down. Order some magazines, read some books, talk to some people. I did that for 6 months when I was completely overwhelmed and my entire psyche changed. But I eventually craved the interaction, so here I am.

[–] Toes@ani.social 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I do a lot of podcasts and play pokemon on my phone. Emulators are amazing

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