It's been replaced by: HN, AP News, and the NYT.
Replaced with carrying my kindle around and reading more often, so it’s been a great change for me personally.
I don't miss it in the slightest, my mood has improved from less pedantry
I am saving hours a week for vastly more productive and less irritating pastimes.
The quality dropped off so hard over the last decade anyways. It had long passed the point of 'more trouble than it's worth, really'; but losing Apollo, and spez's patronizing lies, made it easier to quit.
I used to really enjoy the site, before it got hollowed out by various scumbuckets at every level. It's sad to see how far it fell.
That, and the mobile experience sucks.
I have been aware of a growing addiction / habit of spending many hours daily online.
Used the API blackout to cut myself off. Occassionally miss it for technical forums where I want to see or post specific ideas or reviews or help. Holding out so far.
Still spend too much time online -- HN and Twitter.
EDIT: used this opportunity to re-enable noprocrast setting on my HN user profile (with a little less aggressive controls this time, hoping it sticks)
I was trying for a long time to hide toxic subreddits and individual posts I didn't enjoy, and even tried blocking keywords with uBlock, but in the end it was only putting a bandaid on a fatal wound. The content seems to be gearing towards toxic internet trends, hateful content, rage-bait, people actually dying on video and a whole lot of people telling other people what to think about social issues. I like nuanced discussions, not shaming people into submission on either side of the political spectrum.
I admit, this has always been on the platform but I used to go on Reddit to find interesting stories, cute stuff and really bizarre articles about how the world works (like mantis shrimps being able to crush a fish tank glass with a single punch, and so on). I find less of it now, and the main use for Reddit is while trying to solve a problem. For example:
Google: site:reddit.com How do I boot my Mac into Safe Mode
Side-note, I really miss old internet culture. I feel there's less spaces for people to just have chats about stuff without it being "content" or a way to make money/internet points. I find it here still, and it used to be What.CD forums/IRC too.
Basically use the old website on a laptop once every few weeks now and never engage with any content anymore. Mostly check news, click a link maybe, and move on but has been replaced by other information sources.
Before apollo stopped I had set my phone to limit me to half an hour a day, a limit I hit almost every day, and regularly exceeded.
I don’t really miss it though, so it’s probably been a net benefit for me, but I’m still pissed off at how it went down
The funny thing is, before the brouhaha I wasn't even using a third party app to access the site or any 3rd-party platform (that I'm aware of) that used the API. I was using the native vanilla app and I found it just fine.
But, as a developer I could not in good conscience continue voting with my wallet by viewing ads for a company that clearly didn't care to play nice with the developers that were part of making the platform great.
The app was bad and required restarts often because video wouldn't play. Then they fucked up some of the modes I used to read some reedits in.. which together with the way they handled the API debacle made me remove my user after 10 years.