I originally joined Reddit in 2011, and in the beginning it was dominated by cat content. It was rare to see a post about dogs. Sometime in the mid 20-teens this phenomenon reversed. It’s always been a “pet theory” of mine that this reversal was due to Reddit becoming mainstream, and that it’s initial nerdy/techie user base preferred cats to dogs.
I think my theory is further supported by Lemmy. It’s pretty clear that most of Lemmy’s user base are techies, and currently it’s dominated by cat content. Just a shower thought. May be wrong.
NOTE: I love dogs and cats. This post isn’t arguing favoritism.
I don’t think it’s so much a techie thing, considering there are also more Egyptian hieroglyphs depicting cats than dogs, too. I think it’s just something cats hypnotize people into doing.
Have you seen the pyramids? Those old Egyptians were techies.
Lmao I remember seeing a conspiracy theory that postulated that the pyramids were actually nuclear reactors.
Maybe it was true? 🤷🏻♂️
My cat is a 41 year old millennial working at a tech company in the bay area and he is on Lemmy all the time
He thought it was lemmings.
Am I your cat?
If he needs any legal advice, our pawfices are open for busyness: !cattorneys_at_paw@lemmy.world
I just got a puppy! I don’t see a dog or puppy 101 lemmy maybe there’s one now? And back when I was on that other site I never subscribed or posted on awww but did participate in breed and puppy specific communities because I wanted to get and give more information, not just post cute pics.
Also I think there is a bias because of the physicality and interactive nature of dogs is why there is often more pictures of cats than there are dogs. A lot of dog owners are spending most of the time training them or going out and doing things with them and might not have the camera handy. Most dog owners have taken their dogs on two walks and at least two poops a day, puppy owners are getting up at night for potty and are exhausted.
I feel like cat time is entirely spent in liminal time at home when it’s easy to just pull out your phone and take a few snaps. Often with a dog you’re actually doing something with them and pulling out the phone or taking pictures involves multitasking with the ball, leash or general management while on a walk or hike.
There’s !dogtraining@lemmy.world !!
Subbed!
You forget /r/Dogfort.
That’s a really good point, and most of the dog posts I’ve seen have been in “aww” while cats have “cat” that seems to at times dominate the top posts even while not logged in
It’s settled then. Dogs are awwer than cats.
As someone who mostly had dogs growing up but now have two cats, I can support that. Haha
Really? https://imgur.com/a/s3LIlJE
Really?? https://imgur.com/a/TslPMEH
I’m a techie who hates cats and love dogs.
IDK, I am a pretty big tech nerd and still prefer dogs but that doesn’t mean you’re wrong: There’ll always be outliers.
The old cat to nerd theory index. It’s just science folks.
As a nerd with a dog, fuck all y’all.
I don‘t really like/want either, but slightly prefer cats cause they are quieter and I never stepped in cat poop.
Dog poo is easy to spot and avoid. Cat poop is there for your kids to find and play with in the sand pit.
Wait til you discover “I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?”
Really interesting thought.
I had thought about this earlier but I remember looking up a statistic of dog ownership in the US by year, and it hasn’t changed that much over time. But anecdotally it seems like a ton of young couples have way more dogs than they did when I (a millennial) was growing up. I wish they had dog ownership by age or family composition
Oooo it makes sense doesn’t it, the techy ones would be more likely to stay indoors stroking a cat than to go outside to walk a dog.
I’m a techy, and I regularly take my cats for long walks.
you got us on a triple whammy with “stroking”
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That’s only true for evil techies with lairs, who spend their time sitting on the command chair in the control room, overseeing their minions’ work on their masterplan, slowly stroking their cat and laughing with a maniacal laughter at seemingly random moments.
I’ll get you next time Gadget!
I dont know, all my non techie friends have cats because they arent home enough or dont have a yard for a dog even thought they wish they could, so they settle for a house cat. I wonder if there is a connection with the economy and percentage of dog/cat owners
My current ratio is 2 cats:1 dog
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Dam this gives us a whole new tool to study society and economy, dogs are defintely more expensive to own than cats right, just in general? Not just in terms of money, but time also.
I recently read a theory that house plant ownership rises with poor economy performance as well, for this same reason.
Houseplants are the new pets. Pets are the new children, and children are the new exotic pets.
the world is rebalancing in the wake of our new AI overlords and lack of sustenance
I would disagree with that. Had both most of my life. Cats live much longer on average and tend to have health problems that go longer term, especially kidney and bladder issues. But I’m just going off my own experience, I have no idea what the numbers would look like overall.
Don’t make me start posting baby photos
!remind me…awww now I’m sad.
There’s a bot here for that… I just don’t remember how to use it.
RemindMe! Tomorrow Did they remember how to use the bot?
It is a Mastadon bot and you have to tag it as such. I don’t remember how either, but that is how you do it.
I want to say it’s @remindme @mstdn.social but without the space?
Where llamas ?
According to my music player, getting their asses whipped on the regular.
Farmersonly is what you are looking for.
