this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2026
107 points (95.0% liked)

Showerthoughts

41211 readers
390 users here now

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:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. 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
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

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.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm so old I remember when people would read the newspaper.

Like, read every sentence in every story of each day's newspaper, trusting the editor not to print anything that would be too much of a waste of time.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] gurty@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

UK, my dad would go to the cornershop to buy The Mirror.

I was wondering what he was doing with all these mirrors.

Turns out The Mirror is a newspaper.

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

I would come home from school and read the paper.

Started with the comics. Gotta have that daily chuckle fix. And Dear Abby and the astrology stuff is right there.

Then the sports section.

And then a few headlines, maybe a little entertainment, a crossword if i was feeling that bored....

When i was an adult we had cable news you could consume with alcohol. Which was a different problem.

I had a paper route my man. It was decent money for a kid who could barely drive. A shitton of people cared a lot about their newspaper back then and would complain if it was wet or on the grass or wherever.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I'm so old, I was long an adult before people started not reading the newspaper. I subscribed to the newspaper, and it was delivered to my house by a kid on a bicycle. I found my wife through a personal ad in a newspaper, a wife I've been divorced from for 16 years, now. I got all but my most recent job through want ads in the newspaper.

Y'all aren't old for just remembering when other people read the newspaper. Y'all aren't old at all.

[–] lichtmetzger@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 6 hours ago

Y’all aren’t old at all.

We are old, you are ancient! 😄

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

I'm so old I still get the newspaper daily.

[–] harambe69@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 hours ago

I remember when radios were called transistors.

[–] thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

I'm young (mid 20s) but I've started reading my local newspaper. I've been trying to live a slower life and I'm cutting out social media. I even limit lemmy to 30 minutes a day.

[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

I remember asking to borrow my parents’ newspaper so I could use my silly putty to make copies of pictures.

Also reading comics, and reusing the newspaper so I could make papier mâche (or other crafts) out of it. I learned to weave by using strips of newspaper to make a mat.

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

I'm eking out into oldness. Don't remind me.

[–] blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Used to remember reading the comic strips in the funday times.

As I got older I used to read the Hexham Courant to see who'd been arrested I used to go to school with

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

I started reading the Funnies when I was a kid, added sports, around 10, then the entertainment pages when I got old enough to go to the movies with friends around 13, then eventually started reading the boring stuff.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

We still get a "local rag" that we peruse every Sunday morning. Oh no, John Meyer has died and the Hauptstraße is closed again.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 3 points 9 hours ago

I'm so old I remember being young.

[–] kinther@lemmy.world 7 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

When I was in high school they still delivered newspapers to machines near bus stops. Sometimes I would drop a quarter in to get one so I had something to read on the bus. It was mostly for comics, sports, and current events. When I was done I would leave it on the bus or drop it off in the hallway at school.

Gone are those days.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 14 hours ago

in the 2000s i was reading it up until the first cellphone(smartphone) came into market.

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 11 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

I'm so old I remember reading the ingredients on the shampoo bottle because my brother took the bathroom joke book with him after pooping.

I'm so old I remember grabbing The Onion from the free dispenser outside my apartment building.

I'm so old I get a PSA test annually and need to schedule a colonoscopy

I do regret not ordering the matching embroidered "Face" and "Ass" towels from an ad in The Onion when I had a chance.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

Kids today don't know about weekly, local, free, almost-always leftist, alternative press papers.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

I'm so old, I worried about getting shingles, and was greatly relieved when I got my second shot.

Get your shingles shots, old folks, or one day you're going to catch it, and you will REGRET not getting that vaccine.

[–] early_riser@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

I thought you meant an actual onion and wondered who puts onions in a dispenser like they were gumballs.

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

So he could tie one to his belt, as was the style at the time.

[–] early_riser@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

You couldn't get white onions because of the war, so they only had those big yellow ones.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Gawd, I HATE onions, but I have observed that many humans love them so much, that I believe a coin-operated Onion dispenser would be a huge success.

But like I said, I DESPISE onions, so my understanding of the human adoration for Onions may be poorly calibrated.

[–] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 21 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I get my county's rural, local newspaper. The stories are all relevant to my personal experience and typically quite well written. Local politics, goings on and such. It's nice to have a little piece of life in the 80s back.

[–] TheDoctorDonna@piefed.ca 4 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

You are lucky tbh. So many "local" newspapers are owned by giant corporations. Here in Canada we even have a boatload that are owned by those same American corporations. I helps push narratives among people who are more likely to be isolated or disenfranchised and it works really well.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Our "Der Sonntag" is owned by Badische Zeitung which is owned by Poppen & Ortmann, a company in Freiburg. No US owner.

[–] JakoJakoJako13@piefed.social 5 points 18 hours ago

My first job was delivering them.

[–] ultranaut@lemmy.world 11 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

I tried a few years ago but couldn't get over the absurd amount of advertising and dumb bullshit so I canceled my subscription. I would love to spend Sunday mornings drinking coffee and reading the paper like an old-timey person but the paper is at least 90% garbage. The 10% that isn't garbage is poorly edited and often has typos. It felt like I was being insulted every time I opened it up.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

The adverts in online news media are wayyyyy worse, though.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 8 points 19 hours ago

It was 50% garbage in the 90s and quickly spiraled out of control as the internet grew in popularity.

[–] Agrivar@lemmy.world 5 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

This right here. I remember when finding an error in the paper was like finding a four-leaf clover, now it's more like finding an article without an error is that rare!

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago

The occasional ETAOIN SHRDLU :)

My mom worked for a small paper as a linotype operator around the late 60s to early 70s. :)

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 9 points 22 hours ago

Me, getting the monthly issue of The Onion (America's finest news source, btw): hello

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 5 points 19 hours ago

Brosef, I remember when I used to read the newspaper. The $1.25 to get the Sunday paper at the 7-11 because ain't no way I would scrounge and spend 5 quarters in the machine. That's for laundry money!

[–] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 5 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I'm so old, I remember using newspaper to wipe in the outhouse. Also Sears catalogue. Worst toilet paper ever. It didn't clean anything, just moved stuff around.

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 8 points 17 hours ago

You don't take the Sears catalogue into the outhouse for the paper, you take it for the lingerie section. If you need a book of good wiping paper you take the Farmers Almanac

[–] CCMan1701A@startrek.website 2 points 16 hours ago

There is an old guy at the deli near me that reads the paper with his coffee.

I also remember being asked to write about current events in school and had to turn to the newspaper to find something current.

[–] nesc@lemmy.cafe 5 points 22 hours ago

I remember reading newspapers. 🙃

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 16 hours ago

im old enough for my parents to be sending me to go get the paper and sometimes I would be at a friends when their parents wanted them to and went with on the trip.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 3 points 21 hours ago

Crossword puzzles should be done on actual paper using ink, as our caveman ancestors did and as the gods intended

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

I still read the news paper.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 1 points 17 hours ago

What's interesting is how everything merged into the same thing online. For example, ABC News is the news division of the TV network ABC. USA Today is a newspaper. KTLA is a radio station. All those websites look pretty similar today. They all have text-only stories like a newspaper. They all have video stories.

You'd think maybe TV stations would say "we're not going to do text-only stories" or newspapers would say "we're not going to do video". I wonder if we're ever going to get to a time when there is a distinction between them again.

[–] leadore@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

Those were the days. Also, remember when we got catalogs in the mail?

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.

[–] TheAsianDonKnots@lemmy.zip 2 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

That smell and sound a newspaper makes when you do the traditional *thwap when you first open it. Not many experiences like it in the world.

People these days say tablet kids and instagram parents are insufferable… but like, we had to read the back of the newspaper you were hiding behind at breakfast while screaming something about Jimmy Carter being a soft bitch.

[–] _wizard@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Read the funnies every day.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago

Yeah, but we're so much luckier today with options online. I remember there were definitely tiers of the comics and I read them in a particular order, from the crappy soap-opera one that wasn't funny through (oh I'm gonna piss people off now) the also-crappy ones like Family Circus and Marmaduke and... was it called Love Is? They were always so hokey… then saving ones like Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes for last :)

I did the same thing with food which is why I'm still fat. :(

[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago

I used to get so mad at my grandparents for calling them that. They were COMICS, and it was Very Important to call them by the proper name.

I like to think I've loosened up a bit since I was a kid.

[–] morto@piefed.social 1 points 18 hours ago

Newspapers were still pretty popular in many places up to early 2010s. Some people still read them today.

load more comments
view more: next ›