I don't see this as a problem, the media is terrible at understanding/caring about real cultural trends.
The fact that I have a better time on Lemmy than Reddit on my phone, despite the huge difference in user numbers, says it all to me.
Reddit has been seeing a meaningful and lasting decline since they decided users don't matter, and there's no coming back from that.
Just like Facebook has suffered a permanent user loss and failure to grow, so will Reddit. It won't be overnight, but newer generations are increasingly tech-literate, even when they aren't more media-literate.
I never thought Mastodon would become a place to be, despite always hoping. Never imagined a real Reddit alternative would start to form, but here I am.
Cambridge Analytica laid the foundation of general disdain for centralized social media, and Elon Musk single-handedly exhausted the public's patience with corporate bullshit.
I think decentralized options are here to stay, and I think the only centralized platforms that will take longer to upend are video-dependant ones.
Lemmy needs moderation tools and then a big domain name. Then it'll be ready to go.
The single most important thing it needs is to send delete requests when a post is deleted from the original instance. (Either by a moderator or the user.)
And something to clean up unused files would be nice, but that can be kicked off manually for now.
Honestly I agree wholeheartedly about "just the right amount of content." It's enough for me to get a healthy smattering of interesting and confusing memes without sucking me in and letting THE SCROLL take over.
Lemmy for me is a detox from a hyperactive hyperreal world that by making itself exclusively about fun entertainment, allows one to be picked up and taken with the wind.