I don’t know how much longer I’m going to last with social media.

Facebook and Twitter bore me. No, this doesn’t mean that I find all of you boring per say, but I have realized the repetitive nature of it all.

Year after year, month after month, we post the same old stuff over and over again. Pictures from the same events, statuses marking significant days … we’ve seen it all before. Can’t a guy just get some original content?

Luckily, I, like many others, have found the answer to this question: Reddit.

Reddit is a social media website that claims to be “the front page of the internet.” After investing a lot of time, I really do think it surpasses the giants like Facebook and Twitter.

Now, don’t be fooled. Reddit is nothing like these other social media platforms. The concept is simple- Reddit users, or “redditors,” post content onto specific pages called subreddits. On subreddits, redditors can then upvote or downvote the content, lifting the best stuff to the top of the page. Redditors can then subscribe to different subreddits, allowing users to create their own front page with content that is set specifically for their taste.

I’ve had a Reddit account for about six months. Before that, I sifted through the vast website, getting a feel for how it and its users operate. It takes a little bit of time to get the hang of, learning acronyms like TIL (Today I learned) and NSFW (not safe for work), which are designed to distinguish content.

After that, I designated how I wanted my front page to operate. I obviously like news, and regardless of what my girlfriend tells me, I think I’m funny. I subscribed to /r/news and /r/funny for a nice blend of hard news and internet memes. Perfection.

This is why I think Reddit is so superior and successful. I have the power to decide what I want for my personal preferences, and together everyone gets to choose what content is deemed worthy. It is democracy at its finest, and because of that, it stays interesting. Yes, Twitter is a similar story as far as following what users find interesting, but Reddit does the work for you when it comes to filtering content.

Interesting content is something you can always find on Reddit. Whether it’s news, discussions or arts, you name it; Reddit has it. Maybe that’s why so many well-known people have done AMA’s (ask me anything) on the site. Celebrities, musicians and even President Barack Obama use Reddit.

This concept has even leaked its way into our local government. The Minnesota state government has just begun work on a website where residents can bring forward ideas that can be addressed by either other users or government officials. With all the talk of government shutdown and partisanship lately, direct democracy by a simple vote never looked so good.

Reddit is novel, and that is something I can strongly endorse because I never know what is going to be at the top of my front page. I don’t have to worry about this year’s version of graduation or WE Fest pictures clogging up my newsfeed, and I don’t even have the headache of advertisements strategically placed in between content.

I haven’t gotten rid of other social media platforms, but I don’t think I’ll ever get bored with Reddit. I don’t think I’ll be the tweeting grandpa, but checking my front page on Reddit will never get old.

Alex Goering can be reached at goer8777@stthomas.edu.