The trick is to find subs that interest you. Front page is just going to masses of r/aww and r/funny crap that gets thousands of votes so that kind of content stays on top. There's great stuff out there for college sports (oddly communal rivalries), specific hobbies (the bike ones interest me), and games as noted.
Up and down votes are supposed to be for adding to the convo or useless, but really they are opinion meters.