this post was submitted on 21 Mar 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:

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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.

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[–] fushuan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Dunno where you live but even old genZ would remember that.

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

My parents were still getting the local paper around the mid-2010s, so can confirm. Definitely not as common, but definitely still happens.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 days ago

Just ordered the newspaper for my grandparents while I read the occassional entry in the e-paper.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago

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

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.

[–] gurty@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days 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.

[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I've seriously considered getting a newspaper. I know I wouldn't read it every day, but it would probably help ground me into my local community better and keep me a bit more sane.

[–] zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 days ago

We recently started getting the news paper because my daughter asked for it for a Christmas present. I personally thought that was weird, but we tried it out. After about a month or so she asked us to cancel it because the news was too depressing.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

Did that as a kid. Every day.

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days 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.

[–] harambe69@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 days ago

I remember when radios were called transistors.

[–] systemglitch@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

I delivered newspapers for people to read (shit, slave wage job btw, even for a kid)

[–] Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Twice daily

[–] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 35 points 1 week 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 7 points 1 week 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.

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[–] ultranaut@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago (4 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.

[–] Agrivar@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week 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 3 points 1 week ago

The occasional ETAOIN SHRDLU :)

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

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 9 points 1 week ago

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

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[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

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

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week 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.

[–] early_riser@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week 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 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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

[–] early_riser@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

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

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] early_riser@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Are you a robot?

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

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

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week 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 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Y’all aren’t old at all.

We are old, you are ancient! 😄

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

Passes mantle to Lichtmetzger You are the boomer now.

[–] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week 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 9 points 1 week 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

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 9 points 1 week 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!

[–] kinther@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week 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 3 points 1 week ago

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

[–] nesc@lemmy.cafe 6 points 1 week ago

I remember reading newspapers. 🙃

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I still read the news paper.

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[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago

I'm so old I remember being young.

[–] leadore@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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

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[–] JakoJakoJako13@piefed.social 5 points 1 week ago

My first job was delivering them.

[–] blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 week 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

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[–] thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

[–] MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

I still have subscription for my home town paper, even when i havent lived there for ten years.

The news there are so innocent when compared to big world news. I dont want to only read how wars are going and how the climate change is accelerating. I mean fuck yeah there was strange coloured fox seen on the forest and fuck yeah at the local school fundraiser little Timmy sold record amount of cupcakes.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 4 points 1 week ago

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

[–] TheAsianDonKnots@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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.

[–] northernlights@lemmy.today 4 points 1 week ago

My mom still gets my dad his newspaper daily.

[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week 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.

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