I've also given up on new, and I don't want to give all my attention to hot and trending so I try to check the posts of anyone who I end up in a conversation with in the chats. I think this is more effective for community building then just skimming through new posts. I do use Skim the new posts in certain tags though.
If steem goes up to $10 or higher, won't that make it harder to earn steem because because of the increased demand and limited supply? It could potentially take years for new users to power up even with decent material, no?