this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2026
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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:

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.

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[–] VeryVito@lemmy.world 145 points 1 day ago (45 children)

No technology has ever resulted in lighter workloads for the average person. Different, and sometimes less strenuous, but never less time consuming.

[–] Fallibilist@feddit.uk 41 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Washing machine.

Also, lighter work loads and less time consuming are different arguments - unless you mean no technology has ever resulted in neither, which is a rather bold statement.

[–] JustPlainDave@lemmy.zip 39 points 1 day ago (12 children)

Counterpoint: The cotton gin. It was supposed to make slavery obsolete, but actually reinvigorated the practice of slavery by making slaves able to do more work.

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[–] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Before washing machines, people would hand off washing to professionals. Now the expectation is that the person who can afford it must wash things themselves. More time spent on that.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 7 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Before washing machines, people would hand off washing to professionals.

Uh, maybe for rich people...

Let me introduce you to the washboard and the bucket.

[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Honytawk@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 hours ago

The professionals, who obviously could wash clothes just by staring at them.

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[–] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Pretty sure every piece of technology past the wheel can be considered to save humans time with their tasks.

[–] the_q@piefed.social 22 points 1 day ago (4 children)

No the tasks increase to fill the saved time.

[–] Fallibilist@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Better technology frees more time for other tasks. Whether that's work or leisure depends on the individual. Everyone has the same 24 hours a day independent of how you use them. Most people don't just sit and do nothing. To even suggest that things like an electric stove, washing machine, lawnmower or a bicycle aren't saving people real time on tasks they'd have to do either way is ridiculous.

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[–] plantfanatic@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago (21 children)

Dish washer, laundry washer, laundry drier, lawn mower, a vehicle, there’s thousands dude.

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[–] kestrel7_7@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

This is a good point, and it's often much longer workhours. People used to have to stop when it got dark, because candles and oil lamps were too expensive, but not with electric lights. Mules refuse to work more than about six hours a day, but trucks will keep going as long as you refuel them.

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