diff --git a/components/items.js b/components/items.js
index 7a7a38b2..547b2986 100644
--- a/components/items.js
+++ b/components/items.js
@@ -8,19 +8,21 @@ import { CommentFlat } from './comment'
 import { SUB_ITEMS } from '../fragments/subs'
 import { LIMIT } from '../lib/cursor'
 import ItemFull from './item-full'
+import { useData } from './use-data'
 
 export default function Items ({ ssrData, variables = {}, query, destructureData, rank, noMoreText, Footer, filter = () => true }) {
   const { data, fetchMore } = useQuery(query || SUB_ITEMS, { variables })
   const Foooter = Footer || MoreFooter
+  const dat = useData(data, ssrData)
 
   const { items, pins, cursor } = useMemo(() => {
-    if (!data && !ssrData) return {}
+    if (!dat) return {}
     if (destructureData) {
-      return destructureData(data || ssrData)
+      return destructureData(dat)
     } else {
-      return data?.items || ssrData?.items
+      return dat?.items
     }
-  }, [data, ssrData])
+  }, [dat])
 
   const pinMap = useMemo(() =>
     pins?.reduce((a, p) => { a[p.position] = p; return a }, {}), [pins])
@@ -28,7 +30,7 @@ export default function Items ({ ssrData, variables = {}, query, destructureData
   const Skeleton = useCallback(() =>
     <ItemsSkeleton rank={rank} startRank={items?.length} limit={variables.limit} />, [rank, items])
 
-  if (!ssrData && !data) {
+  if (!dat) {
     return <Skeleton />
   }
 
diff --git a/components/notifications.js b/components/notifications.js
index 8f9898cb..37484712 100644
--- a/components/notifications.js
+++ b/components/notifications.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import styles from './notifications.module.css'
 import { useServiceWorker } from './serviceworker'
 import { Checkbox, Form } from './form'
 import { useRouter } from 'next/router'
+import { useData } from './use-data'
 
 function Notification ({ n, fresh }) {
   const type = n.__typename
@@ -340,10 +341,11 @@ const nid = n => n.__typename + n.id + n.sortTime
 export default function Notifications ({ ssrData }) {
   const { data, fetchMore } = useQuery(NOTIFICATIONS)
   const router = useRouter()
+  const dat = useData(data, ssrData)
 
   const { notifications: { notifications, lastChecked, cursor } } = useMemo(() => {
-    return data || ssrData || { notifications: {} }
-  }, [data, ssrData])
+    return dat || { notifications: {} }
+  }, [dat])
 
   useEffect(() => {
     if (lastChecked && !router?.query?.checkedAt) {
@@ -358,7 +360,7 @@ export default function Notifications ({ ssrData }) {
     }
   }, [router, lastChecked])
 
-  if (!data && !ssrData) return <CommentsFlatSkeleton />
+  if (!dat) return <CommentsFlatSkeleton />
 
   return (
     <>
diff --git a/components/notifications.module.css b/components/notifications.module.css
index 7305f949..600ae419 100644
--- a/components/notifications.module.css
+++ b/components/notifications.module.css
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 .fresh {
-    background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03);
+    background-color: rgba(128, 128, 128, 0.1);
     border-radius: 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/components/use-data.js b/components/use-data.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9ac52f6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/use-data.js
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react'
+
+/*
+  What we want is to use ssrData if it exists, until cache data changes
+  ... this prevents item list jitter where the intially rendered items
+  are stale until the cache is rewritten with incoming ssrData
+*/
+export function useData (data, ssrData) {
+  // when fresh is true, it means data has been updated after the initial render and it's populated
+  const [fresh, setFresh] = useState(false)
+
+  // on first render, we want to use ssrData if it's available
+  // it's only unavailable on back/forward navigation
+  const ref = useRef(true)
+  const firstRender = ref.current
+  ref.current = false
+
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!firstRender && !fresh && data) setFresh(true)
+  }, [data])
+
+  // if we don't have data yet, use ssrData
+  // if we have data, but it's not fresh, use ssrData
+  // unless we don't have ssrData
+  if (!data || (!fresh && ssrData)) return ssrData
+  return data
+}
diff --git a/components/user-list.js b/components/user-list.js
index 582da750..23ec9e04 100644
--- a/components/user-list.js
+++ b/components/user-list.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import userStyles from './user-header.module.css'
 import { useEffect, useMemo, useState } from 'react'
 import { useQuery } from '@apollo/client'
 import MoreFooter from './more-footer'
+import { useData } from './use-data'
 
 // all of this nonsense is to show the stat we are sorting by first
 const Stacked = ({ user }) => (<span>{abbrNum(user.stacked)} stacked</span>)
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@ function seperate (arr, seperator) {
 
 export default function UserList ({ ssrData, query, variables, destructureData }) {
   const { data, fetchMore } = useQuery(query, { variables })
+  const dat = useData(data, ssrData)
   const [statComps, setStatComps] = useState(seperate(STAT_COMPONENTS, Seperator))
 
   useEffect(() => {
@@ -48,15 +50,15 @@ export default function UserList ({ ssrData, query, variables, destructureData }
   }, [variables?.by])
 
   const { users, cursor } = useMemo(() => {
-    if (!data && !ssrData) return {}
+    if (!dat) return {}
     if (destructureData) {
-      return destructureData(data || ssrData)
+      return destructureData(dat)
     } else {
-      return data || ssrData
+      return dat
     }
-  }, [data, ssrData])
+  }, [dat])
 
-  if (!ssrData && !data) {
+  if (!dat) {
     return <UsersSkeleton />
   }