While Reddit is one of the most popular social websites in the world, some people aren’t really too fond of Reddit and think that Reddit (or its users, called ‘Redditors’) are actually quite cringe. But what makes Reddit so cringe and awkward and what can you do about it? Let’s find out.
A little bit more about Reddit
Reddit is the self-proclaimed front page of the internet and amasses millions of pageviews every single month, and also has a huge community of users. People post links, pictures, videos, and/or discussions in specific parts of Reddit, called subreddit.
There’s a subreddit for funny posts, for example, but there’s also a subreddit for pretty much anything you can imagine. Do you like games? Head over to the /r/games subreddit. Want to discuss your favorite television show with other Redditors? There’s a subreddit for that too.
Because there are so many subreddits, you could argue that there are also a lot of different communities on Reddit. Unfortunately, some of these subreddits can be quite toxic (and even mean) sometimes to their users, which is one of the reasons why a lot of people actually quit using Reddit altogether. Of course – it doesn’t take much explaining that some of the communities are also quite cringe.
Why is Reddit so cringe?
Even Redditors think that Reddit is cringey.
On the /r/onpopularopinion subreddit, one person clearly had to get some stuff off their chest about most Reddit users, claiming they had no social life and saw Reddit more as a cult.
The user also stated that there was a downvote and attacking culture on there and that they used to think that Reddit was cool until toxicity gained the upper hand and the website became “full of dweebs”. With over 600 upvotes, it appears that this sentiment is shared by a lot of other Redditors.
According to some people, Reddit can be very stereotypical and edgy, recycling jokes and taking part in a sort of hive mind mentality. A lot of users also claim that you’re not really allowed to post anything you want without getting in hefty discussions, being attacked by other Redditors, or by getting a ton of downvotes.
“Everyone on here wants to be so cool, so original, this super intelligent individual, yet everyone just fall so short and just comes off repetitive and typical. Every subreddit you go to, every comment section you read, it’s the same pretentiousness, the same try hards wanting to come off a certain or uber intelligent.” Reddit user JussaQuestion4 said.
A lot of people also clearly believe that Redditors are full of themselves and struggle with superiority complexes.
Reddit’s anonymity and privacy are also one of the reasons why users can be cringe, since nobody knows who they are and people can hide behind their keyboard and completely made-up username.
What are the most cringe subreddits on Reddit?
There are a whole lot of controversial and cringe subreddits on Reddit that will definitely make you roll your eyeballs. Luckily, a lot of these subreddits are later blocked or banned on Reddit, but new ones gradually pop up too.
Some of these banned subreddits include /r/TheChimpire, which promoted the use of racial slurs and scrutiny.
Perhaps the most striking example of why Reddit can be so cringe, is the now-banned subreddit /r/CringeAnarchy.
In this subreddit, people often post far-right memes and severely politically incorrect content. It was derived from the regular /r/cringe subreddit (which still exists today), but took on a clearly more far-right approach. This subreddit managed to amass more than half a million subscribers, so it definitely wasn’t a small community anymore.
You can find a full list of controversial and banned subreddits on the official Wikipedia page. Indonesia even banned Reddit partly because of this reason, along with a handful of other countries that blocked access to Reddit.
Some other subreddits that people consider to be quite cringe are r/dankmemes and /r/pepethefrog, which both contain a lot of imagery with the “pepe” meme.
Additionally, some people also don’t really like some of the popular things that happen in Reddit culture, such as the “thank you for the gold, kind stranger!” comments when they’re given an award, the comment threads full of puns, and the heavy use of memes on Reddit itself, particularly in the awards.
The wholesome award on Reddit is a perfect example of this, as it is often being used in cringe manner where Redditors give wholesome awards to posts that are anything but wholesome. This behavior has started to become known even outside of Reddit which is why the wholesome award is now even considered to be a meme.
What is a Reddit moment?
Some cringe behavior on Reddit is so striking, that some people can call it a “Reddit moment”. It’s used entirely in a mocking manner to the Redditors in question, who have posted or commented something extremely cringe-worthy.
Even though a “Reddit moment” had a positive connotation once, that definitely didn’t last long. It even has a page on Urban Dictionary.
Summary
Is Reddit cringe? Well, a lot of people seem to think so – although the problem definitely isn’t present on the entirety of Reddit. It all depends on which subreddits you’re visiting and how friendly the community is, as well as how decent the moderators are. Some people also seem to be disturbed by some of Reddit’s typical phenomena, such as the joke thread comments and heavy reliance on memes.
