Reddit — the self-proclaimed “front page of the internet” — has something for everybody. Whether your interests are popular and mainstream or niche and obscure, we can pretty much guarantee that you’ll find a community of other enthusiasts on Reddit.
No joke — there are vibrant communities dedicated to everything from appreciating the beauty of statistics to curating clips of people doing things they immediately regret. So rest assured, there’s something on Reddit you’ll like. The trick is wading through all the nonsense and finding the good stuff — so we compiled a modest list of the best subreddits Reddit has to offer.
Like reading about technology, but don’t care about Apple’s latest earnings report or the latest Facebook controversy? Skip your visit to /r/technology and head on over to Futurology. It’s all about the biggest, sexiest, and most ambitious technologies that humanity is currently working on.
In this subreddit, people post clips of times when things appear to be going horribly wrong, but then disaster is somehow averted at the last minute. This can be anything — cars narrowly avoiding catastrophic accidents, miraculous recoveries from athletes, or even animals escaping from predators. You never know what you’ll find in this sub, but it’s always exciting.
This one is fun for the whole family. Basically, people take videos and GIFs of people rescuing animals, then run them in reverse to make it look like they’re actually putting them in harm’s way. And since you’re just watching a reversed clip and not a true depiction of the actual event, you don’t have to feel guilty about laughing when the guy stuffs a kitten down a sewer drain, lowers a kangaroo into a swimming pool, or drops a bear onto a trampoline and sends him flying up into a tree.
There are a lot of good animal-related subs on Reddit, but r/NatureIsFuckingLit is definitely the best place to go if you’re after fascinating, awe-inspiring, and downright impressive footage of nature. It’s basically Earth’s greatest hits, conveniently presented in a collection of pictures, GIFs, and short video clips.
We tried not to put too many default subreddits on this list, but r/gifs is too great to overlook. As one of Reddit’s largest and most active subs, it’s filled with a nearly endless torrent of content from all over the web. And that’s what makes it great. On any given day, r/gifs offers a glimpse into what’s happening not only on the internet, but also in the world at large. If something important, amazing, or memorable happened today, you can bet that a relevant clip of the event will end up in this sub. It’s all here, in the quickest and most easily digestible format possible.
If you like clips of people doing stupid and misguided things, then immediately regretting their decisions, then this sub is for you. It’s glorious — you can basically sit back and marvel at how dumb some people are, while simultaneously feeling better about your own decision-making skills.
Even if you’re not good enough at Photoshop to participate in the “battles,” this sub is definitely worth a visit. The premise is pretty simple: Users submit pictures that are ripe for Photoshopping, and then other members edit and remix the images before posting them in the comment thread. The results are almost always funny, and some are downright impressive.
This sub is pretty funny. Basically, users talk about memes like they’re stocks, and facetiously try to predict which memes will become popular (or fall out of favor), often with overly enthusiastic, trading floor-style exclamations such as “BUY BUY BUY!” or “SELL SELL SELL!” It’s mostly a jokefest, but buried beneath all the meta-hipster snark and satire, there’s also some good social commentary on trendsetting, virality, and internet culture. Then again, maybe we’re just reading into it too much.
Probably the most famous subreddit, r/IAmA is a place for people from all walks of life to do informal Q&A sessions. AMAs — short for “ask me anything”– attract all sorts of characters, and are a great way to get firsthand knowledge about what it’s like to be a firefighter, a corporate whistleblower, a NASA scientist, etc. In recent years, the subreddit has even become famous for celebrity AMAs. If you want to hear Jeff Bridges’ advice on how to make a marriage last, or for some reason want to ask Patrick Stewart whether he’d prefer to fight a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses, those are opportunities you’ll find on r/IAmA.
Like history, science can be a difficult subject to study on your own. As such, why not seek the wisdom of experts? Answers on /r/AskScience are backed up by peer-reviewed sources, ensuring they will be trustworthy, and the rules stifle any attempts to take things off-topic or spread misinformation. Whether you have questions on physics, biology, or any other aspect of the natural world, there is likely someone on this subreddit willing to provide an informed answer. A knowledgeable community and strict rules also help keep AskScience one of the most informative, civil forums on Reddit.
Visualization is a big part of conveying statistics to an audience of laymen. Data sets can be difficult to parse if one is not trained in statistical analysis, but a pie chart or line graph can communicate information about trends quickly and easily. For people who are enthusiastic about statistics or those who just want to grasp information at a glance, r/DataIsBeautiful is a great subreddit to subscribe to. The charts and graphs are usually of high quality, both aesthetically and methodologically. The subreddit rules also require that visualizations must link to the corresponding data sources, so it’s easy to scrutinize the methodology behind the stats. The subject matter covers a wide array of interests, including everything from charts of climate trends to statistical breakdowns of the latest television shows.
The internet has enabled a greater proliferation of music than ever before. From pop icons to obscure bands, it’s all theoretically just a few clicks away. But with so much info flowing, the signal-to-noise ratio can be horrendous. How can one find musical pearls without having to wade through so much muck? Audiophiles looking for music off the beaten path will find themselves at home on r/listentothis, a community for sharing songs and artists. Posts span a variety of genres, some of which can be quite odd indeed. If terms like “jazzcore” and “djent” intrigue you, dive down the rabbit hole of r/listentothis.
On r/Books, you can find the latest information on popular books and authors, as well as discussions on literature from Homer to Jonathan Franzen. The subreddit regularly features Q&A sessions with notable authors. Perhaps most importantly, r/Books follows the Sage’s Rule of Reddit, banning memes and other low-effort posts and requiring that comments maintain a basic level of human decency. Bookworms with an internet connection will find few online communities as nice as r/Books to satisfy their literary needs.
Remember that running gag from the movie Dodgeball, where the dodgeball championship tournament aired on a fictional sports channel called “ESPN8: The Ocho“? Well, somebody decided to take that joke and run with it on Reddit. It’s a subreddit where users post video clips and GIFs of obscure sporting events you’ve probably never heard of. Browse through its posts, and you’ll find stuff like “shovel boarding” and “bike football.”
Don’t let the awkward naming scheme scare you off. These subreddits provide high-quality photographs covering a variety of subjects. Abandoned buildings, wildlife, machinery, and of course, food; there are subs for all these and more. Whether you’re a photography enthusiast or simply someone who wants some nice backgrounds for your desktop, these subreddits are a treasure trove.
Although not as popular as r/Gaming, r/Games is a far better place to go if you want a discussion about video games. This is largely due to its strong moderation. The result is a forum primarily composed of articles and discussions about the gaming industry and the technical aspects of the medium. Like many video game communities, r/Games can be prone to occasional bouts of mass hysteria, but strict rules and moderation keep things civil overall.
This is arguably the best of the HoldMy[drink] subfamily. The granddaddy of them all was r/HoldMyBeer, which is a community dedicated to gifs/videos of drunk people trying things they probably shouldn’t attempt — all while visibly intoxicated. The popularity of this first sub inspired people to create various offshoots — including ones like r/HoldMyCosmo (the same idea, but specifically for videos of women), and r/HoldMyJuiceBox (kids trying and failing to do things). r/HoldMyRedbull is slightly different, and features people doing extreme, death-defying stunts — and usually succeeding.
If you want an extra dash of off-the-wall humor in your life, subscribe to this community. The premise is that people share clips — usually from social media posts and news articles — that contain sentences/phrases so outlandish and creative that it’s likely that they’ve never been written before. If it’s your first visit, sort by Top>All Time and have yourself a good scroll — we guarantee you’ll enjoy it.
There are plenty of subreddits dedicated to sharing incredible video footage, but this is one of our favorites. Instead of just focusing on the content of the video, this sub is all about upvoting outstanding camera work. This means it’s effectively a compilation of jaw-droppingly gorgeous clips that’ll make you go “What?! How the hell did they get that shot?!”
Battlestations are desktop computer setups, and this subreddit is filled with ideas about how to arrange your own desktop computer space for maximum beauty, efficiency, and coolness. While many of these setups are focused on gaming, that’s far from the only thing you’ll find. There are plenty of people showing off their office computers, at-home workstations, and systems meant more for general entertainment. It’s a great place to find inspiration, new gadgets to add to your computer setup, or solutions for fitting a great battlestation in a smaller space.
TodayILearned is filled with interesting facts that can easily take you down research rabbit holes for hours, providing readers with bite-sized facts that, well, lots of people don’t know. Much of it is science and history, but topics cover all kinds of fields. If you like the idea of learning new stuff every day, this is the place you should be.
This subreddit is a great place to stop by and learn the latest about environmental technology, new green ideas, super-smart sustainability efforts, and similar topics. While much of the subreddit is devoted to the latest regulations, environmental startups, and the latest green technology, you can also find answers to common sustainability questions and much more.
We’ve all had those experiences where we drift off in the shower and have a peculiar — perhaps even profound — thought. This subreddit is made to share such thoughts. It’s not really about facts, but about unique (sometimes funny and often thought-provoking) perspectives that can make you rethink things.
You can use this subreddit to view posts about what happened 100 years ago. History buffs will always find something new to learn each day, and they can have a ton of fun browsing this forum full of fascinating photos, quotes, newspaper clippings, and more from a century ago (currently the 1920s, of course, which has a lot to offer). If you have a passion for history or just want to bone up on your trivia, this is the subreddit for you.
There is so much useful information in this subreddit; you can find yourself coming back for days to read more about nutrition. Whether you’re investigating new food regulations or hoping to see the latest scientific research, r/nutrition will prove to be an exciting tool. There’s a little something for everyone in this thread, whether you’re a calorie-counter, a gym rat, or just someone looking for a bit more information about how various aspects of nutrition work.
The name itself basically covers the entire vibe of this subreddit. If you need a pick-me-up or a bit of inspiration, r/nextfuckinglevel will truly deliver. You can find groundbreaking inventions, death-defying stunts, and jaw-dropping artwork. This feed is meticulously well-curated and carefully designed to appeal to a broad group of people. The subreddit goes above and beyond to feature people around the world who are insanely talented and deserve recognition. Take a break from any doom-scrolling, and check out this talent-filled feed.
Editors’ Recommendations
