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this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2025
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
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If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
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I did not find that role playing improved my IRL social skills.
I am sorry but unless you had an awful time and quit immediately that is essentially impossible.
I didn't say I had an awful time; I loved it. I said it doesn't improve general social skills, which was the OP claim.
Not only did I play AD&D from 12-18, I also played a lot of Traveler, a bit of Runequest and Cyberpunk, and a smattering of other games like Phoenix Command. And I'll say that my observation is that not only did it not improve my social skills, it didn't measurable improve those in the various friend groups, some of whom, 40 years later and still gaming, are just about as awkward as when they were in high school.
It's because it's fantasy, and the reactions you get from NPCs is what the DM comes up with; they're not real people, they're all one person. The gamers in your group could be just as socially awkward as you; all you're going to learn from them is how to interact with other socially awkward people.
Now, if your party consists of a bunch of extrovert players, you could learn from them. But IME gaming only made things worse: it exacerbated the inside joke, us-vs-the-jocks, we're skater because we play intellectually stimulating games mentality that contributes to social awkwardness.
Building an echo chamber of friends, most likely much like you in headspace, doesn't expand your ability to be socially fluid.
You ever been to a convention? There are some really great outgoing people are those. There are also a large number of folks who are just plain fucking awkward. I was one of them.
You know what guaranteed helps with social skills? The military. Enforced, constant interaction with a bunch of people of all personality types that you don't get to choose.
I am pro-gaming. I think it's a great pursuit. It might even help improve your basic math skills, but I don't think it cures cancer, and I don't think it at all helps with improving general social skills.