The internet as a whole was much better when websites and services were not designed to cater to kids.

No kids? I am a kid

Maturity really isn't the same as age: plenty of legally adult people (many already so for decades) around who are anything but mature individuals.

That said, as others here I think the absence of the subtle pressures derived from commercialization and profit-seeking make most of the difference.

Also, I've been thinking about the possibiility that both those already in Lemmy before and the Reddit refugees who came in recently, are at the most principled end of the spectrum compared with those still in Reddit (whose principles on the subject of ultra-authoritarian top-down imposition as done in Reddit clearly aren't strong enough to make them try something else), possibly also more confortable with change. This might make the crowd here at the moment a self-selected bunch leaning significantly more towards a certain psychological profile than the average which in turn (or so is my theory) affects the dominant tone of discussions here.

I dont know, it feels like reddit still and it isnt much about age. Pseudointelligents are present, braggers present, ad-hominem enthusiasts present, fingerprinting my machine to death most likely present, i still fear getting banned for speaking my mind as in all english-language spaces so it will probably be my first and last post on this website if not for the omnipresent abusive and constantly angry mods on every community oriented site i had posted on that bullied me for me being me and high functioning but still autism Mixed feelings, but gatekeeping quality destroyers works, thats my experience and objective knowledge that it works, and some spaces have lower demographics by age than this place but are the cozy village with admin that doesnt exploit it. Its not about age its about maturity Lets sit and watch what is going to hatch of this site, my feelings are mixed

the kids are alright

It's so good because a lot of people have been waiting for a viable alternative to Reddit for half a decade or longer. It's non-corporate internet, the way it should be.

Hiiiiiii guys! ~

I'm new heeereeeee! Am 12/f/cali looking for cutey cutey fweends!!!!! Uwu

I loved reddit but there were definitely times where it felt like I was in a high school cafeteria.

Reminds me of Reddit around 2010.

I'm 17

I remember shortly after the death of digg rage comics being peak humor and suddenly an influx of kids not understanding how to make a rage comic killing that sub.

It reminds me of the day the internet died, when so many new AOL users overwhelmed the forums at the time and killed all the etiquette that had formed up to that point. Internet been stagnant for longer than it should have been. I’m excited to see where things go now.

The deep rock galactic subreddit got overrun by kids and their stupid, shit memes, long live Lemmy!

I'm not convinced.