this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026
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NiceMemes

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A place to post memes & images that won't absolutely obliterate your mental health! Memes must not stray into hopelessness and be generally positive or neutral.

I made this with my kid in mind, so that they can have a good, safe place to look at memes, just made to make folks laugh and smile!

Only goofs & silliness. (:

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[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 46 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

What? I don't know when any of these were not perceived as skills. I'm not saying this to be elitist either; I'm fucking embarrassing at all three.

This post has a solid, positive message of "we should be wary of being too rigid in our assessments of human creativity" and "just let yourself have fun", but it comes from a really weird assumption that humans haven't been judging humans for these things for literally ever.

When did the "so now" part start, exactly? And how are we arbitrarily delineating "skills" and "behaviors"? Distance running is a quintessential human behavior, but it's also a skill.

[–] draco_aeneus@mander.xyz 20 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I think maybe they were thinking pre-modern history? But even now, people do dance and sing around campfires, and 'arts and crafts' exist which is a pretty low judgement activity.

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I even tried to consider pre-history, and it's always some level of unfounded or even contradictory. I won't mince words: the post seems to just be making shit up based on some idealized version of the (naïvely homogenized) past, and I seriously doubt its author could produce any relevant, credible sources they've read that support this very niche talking point.

[–] draco_aeneus@mander.xyz 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The other way around also has a false assumption in it. OK, maybe bees don't have the concept if skill so much, but birds most certainly do judge singing/dancing skill (when selecting mates).

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah, wait, I completely overlooked that because I got so distracted by the human thing. Bird songs are among the most "the only reason this is done is so that it can be judged" things in nature, and it's one of two things listed. The other one is something the bee needs to be good at and only exists for pragmatism. I cannot with this post.

[–] placebo@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Do they sing and dance for fun? I mean, even for other animals dancing and singing is part of their mating rituals, so being better than others is beneficial. IMO, this predates not only modern history, but homo sapiens in general.

[–] dmention7@midwest.social 3 points 1 month ago

Porque no los dos?

People forget that we're just animals with a teensy bit more awareness of our instinctual drives; and we have developed terms like "fun" and "love" and "joy" to describe the feeling we get when we engage with those drives successfully.

If a higher-level being were to observe humans dancing in a social situation, they might ask if we're doing it for fun or as part of a mating ritual--neither would really be wrong.

[–] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 month ago

Yeah op's take is really weird. Not only it is impossible not to get better at something you do over and over, for a lot of people the enjoyment of a hobby comes from getting better as a form of personal growth, not as a 'grindset mindset'.

Tinfoil hat take: There has been a few of these low-qualty text posts recently. They are now testing ai generated text-content like this, since Lemmy has so few people that bots end up chatting nonsense to each other way too often otherwise. Like this, they can test how passing their bots generated written content is. 🛸

[–] ChristerMLB@piefed.social 1 points 1 month ago

Maybe before recording and communication technologies allowed us to see and hear the best stuff all the time? Or before American Idol hammered the point home?

I dunno, I think it's pointing at something real, although it's more a change in degree

[–] pilferjinx@piefed.social 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Hobbies are supposed to be a fun activity in which your skill with it generally increases, no?

[–] tyler@programming.dev 11 points 1 month ago (3 children)

You’re calling it a hobby. That’s not what the image says. They’re behaviors. Like walking. You wouldn’t expect someone to think walking is a “fun activity in which your skill with it generally increases”. It’s just a fact of existing.

[–] pilferjinx@piefed.social 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The image doesn't mention walking. Singing, dancing, and art. I consider those to be hobbies, don't you? I define hobbies as fun unnecessary activity, or in this case - behavior.

[–] tyler@programming.dev 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If 99.9% of people on the planet do it, it’s not a hobby. It’s a behavior.

[–] pilferjinx@piefed.social 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, I suppose I've used the word beyond its scope. Let's take dancing for example. People go to social events, like clubs, to socialize, dance, and hookup with people. That's definitely beyond the word hobby. However, let's say you want to learn to dance and decide to go to a dance school and take classes. I would consider that a hobby. Now, in context to the OP, activities conjoined with skill implies, at least to me, that maybe they're talking about the latter kind of behavior. I dunno, but your view is perfectly valid.

[–] tyler@programming.dev 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I agree that they can be a hobby. Like you might speed walk in races or something. But that’s the exception. I believe what OP is trying to say is that some things have been transformed from being human into a skill that people are expected to be good at to participate in. If you’re not good at singing, people don’t want to hear it. If you’re not good at dancing, people don’t want to see it. Etc.

[–] pilferjinx@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh weird, if I encountered someone doing something without skill, I normally don't care, unless it was somehow truly offensive. I haven't even considered that anyone would care enough about such things. Thanks man for the clarity.

[–] tyler@programming.dev 2 points 1 month ago

Sure thing. Thanks for having a nice thoughtful discussion with me.

I also normally don’t care, but my wife does. She thinks about it this way and won’t sing or dance in front of people really.

[–] bobo1900@startrek.website 6 points 1 month ago

My behavior, now and a as child was to open things for curiosity. My hobby now is to thinker with dismantled electronic. Is this a hobby or a behavior?

I don't think such stricts definitions really apply to humans.

[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 month ago

I appreciate the sentiment, too many people put too much pressure on themselves to only do that sort of stuff if they're trying to get better at ot.

But birds and bees absolutely don't do either of those things just for the hell of it.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Unfortunately humans tend to be judgy AF. So when you’ve literally got hundreds of thousands of people who are really good at things like singing and dancing, people make comparisons. Worse yet you get media where some nobody comes out of their shell and can suddenly pull off top-tier looks, singing and dancing.

Go big or go home.

Sure would be great if people were more forgiving.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 points 1 month ago

Just get good at not giving a fuck about other peoples' opinions. Then you can do all the other shit you want to do for fun.

[–] TwodogsFighting@lemdro.id 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But bees are good at making hives :(

[–] Jackcooper@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

And birds are good at singing and those who make bad hives or are bad at singing don't get to live or reproduce 🤔

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is one hangup I have with making music. Like, is the point to make music for others to listen to? If I have 100 of my songs on an old hard drive, thats not really benefitting me..or anyone. I like to put them on bandcamp. But idk, then I want to show people, and they probably won't like it...ugh. I enjoy making music and im good at it but for what purpose. There's also an album released every minute of every day, so why even try.

[–] qarbone@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

No, the point of making music is for the maker to create sounds that move them.

Make what want, release them if you like. If you're not forcing people to listen, then there's no problem.

[–] adhd_traco@piefed.social 2 points 1 month ago

~ We do kinesiology without apology ~

[–] CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

This is ladyB screeching about the fantasy hell scape she's made up in her mind. I honestly can't recall a single person irl thinking like this. It's certainly not common.

The digital equivalent to your partner being pissed off at a dream they had about you

Nobody is giving you a report card on dancing.

[–] rhymeswithduck@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

My mom: "Why did you have to quit dance lessons as a child? Didn't you know you were supposed to become a famous dancer pianist doctor who also sings and sells paintings on the side!?!? How could you do this to meeeeeeee???"

[–] Emotional_Series7814@piefed.zip 1 points 1 month ago

idk, this reads more like posting anything that reads as "cozy" than screeching.

notice lately how nobody makes a point we disagree with nowadays or gets mildly upset, when we talk about people proposing things we do not like they are ridiculous screeching crying babies? it's… disheartening. i'm not the biggest fan at all of the direction of !nicememes nowadays and try to post memes instead of generic "cozy" tweets when i have time, but come on, she's not screeching. she is just sharing someone else's post