Hashtags - Do you actually use them as a consumer?

I use them occasionally if I want to see photos in a specific location or from a certain event. Or when I’m looking for updates about a current topic in the news. 

I can’t remember the last time I used one. 

I use hashtags in my own posts, depending on the platform, and I occasionally use them to surface content or a trending topic I’m on the hunt for. 

The main time I use them is when I’m traveling and want to learn more about a specific hotel or area. And honestly, for my use case, I could also use the location instead (the hashtag is usually just more reliable and curated). 

I feel like most of the time when I search, I just type the phrase or keywords in and get what I want without hashtags. 

I search hashtags a few times a month, because I’m looking for something. So I hate it when people say “hashtags are dead” - no, overusing hashtags (30 of them) and hashtags that are too general or too specific are dead, but used as actual social SEO? I believe they are still useful.

As a user, I pretty much only use hashtags for research. Mostly for travel but sometimes related to events or conferences. 

Using hashtags is so millennial, speaking as a millennial. I haven’t used them in ages personally, and we stopped using them on our feeds over a year ago. Our content does well, nothing really changed when we stopped using them. I’ve learned that locations and search terms are more relevant to users searches.