Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#201

Post by TheMblabla » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 8:22 PM UTC

shireboy wrote: post #167

tossthere wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I figured this out a few years ago and completely stopped all news watching/reading entirely. I have nothing but positive things to say about that decision, and surprisingly I seem to be better-informed and feel like I have a worldview that more accurately reflects reality than most of the people who follow news daily. Daily news watchers now seem like such ineffective people to me, and I’m reminded of the know-nothi…

Can I ask _how_ you did this? I've done some things like block sites on various devices, etc. But I do find myself still - when I'm waiting for a build to complete or whatever - sliding over to whateveroutragesite.com almost compulsively.

Try finding something else interesting to do instead, I found it made breaking the habit much easier

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#202

Post by rickbad68 » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 9:48 PM UTC

pb7 wrote: post #128

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then you just had a discussion about your friends understanding of the issue, which is going to be another step removed from the journalist. And you're either relying on the friend to have done all the work for you, or you're just two people who haven't taken the time to look at the issue discussing it. To me, it seems that was lies strong opinions and without context.

There’s the rub. Your friend is more likely to have a similar point of view as you on a given topic so they can relay the necessary details for you, if the topic is important enough. No matter the topic, there will always be multiple spins on it so getting your friend’s spin is no better or worse than a journalist’s — or worse, the mob’s.

I would argue the friends spin is probably more reliable, depending on the friend of course, as at least they would not be motivated by ratings or money and probably are not intentionally trying to cultivate any certain biased viewpoint in you.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#203

Post by coffeefirst » Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 10:25 PM UTC

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #174

coffeefirst wrote: post #88

The premise is wrong. It’s less about news than your phone. Before, news was timeboxed. You might have a daily paper habit, or listened to the radio in the car on a commute, or a nightly broadcast, and a handful of longer term magazines, but that was it. It may capture your attention for a bit but there wasn’t any more of it to obsess compulsively. 24/7 cable broke this contract, but let’s be honest, that’s really no…

What newsletters do you get? I'm definitely interested in this.

These days I'm really liking NPR's daily newsletter, which is a straightforward, no nonsense "here's what we think is important" report. And I'm a huge fan of NextDraft.

But at this point any writer or publication you like to read probably has one.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#204

Post by chrisrickard » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 12:08 AM UTC

sjg007 wrote: post #180

drenvuk wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to be blunt here and say that you're wrong. There is no difference. The news may be curated and may be for a specific audience but the odds that it's just as useless to you as mainstream news is still very high. I don't say this to criticize, mind you. I'm here as well.

HN provides the same dopamine surge.

I have read HN every morning for the last ten years, and I think for the first 5 years of my HN life I felt a huge rush when _something_ new came out. That could be a new "groundbreaking" app, JS library, Mac distro etc.

About 5 years ago it just started to fade.. probably as I started to click less on the new JS libraries etc, and more on the obscure interesting learnings (but also could be due to the content that makes the front page.

Every once and a while I jump on, look at a few links, read a few articles, and feel a bit disappointed that I don't have my rush anymore... I think its healthier, less addictive, but what happened to my good ol' junkie-hit days? :)

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#205

Post by darkerside » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 12:25 AM UTC

ericsoderstrom wrote: post #166

darkerside wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little confused. I agree with some of your sentiment, but are developments w/r/t COVID not important?

> Name anything that happened 5 years ago. If it’s significant, I remember it. If it isn’t, I never heard about it at all, and nobody else remembers it either. OP has heard of COVID. It would be impossible not to. I follow a similar approach (avoiding news as much as possible) and I still am exposed to much more information about COVID than is useful.

So relying on informal networks to pass on the key information? That's actually a really sensible strategy. I retract my argument.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#206

Post by alfiedotwtf » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 12:49 AM UTC

user00012-ab wrote: post #159

alfiedotwtf wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “Who decided that this was important to you, and why did you let them decide that?” Thank you for that comment... I'm now going to turn on my news blackhole hosts file, which I disabled long ago. I remember being far more content back then so I'm not sure why I reverted back.

I use the leechblock plugin and have it redirect any site like twitter/reddit/hn to my todo list instead. I also have it setup so I can only view hackernews on Fridays so I'm not constantly loading it. I also subscribe to https://hackernewsletter.com/ which is a list of all the interesting articles from hacker news from that week. (it comes out on Friday, thus I unblock on the site on my computer on Fridays)

> to my todo list instead

Ha! That's awesome. That's an in-your-face "hey you, focus!"

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#207

Post by sjg007 » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 1:28 AM UTC

chrisrickard wrote: post #204

sjg007 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN provides the same dopamine surge.

I have read HN every morning for the last ten years, and I think for the first 5 years of my HN life I felt a huge rush when _something_ new came out. That could be a new "groundbreaking" app, JS library, Mac distro etc. About 5 years ago it just started to fade.. probably as I started to click less on the new JS libraries etc, and more on the obscure interesting learnings (but also could be due to the content that m…

I started with slashdot, it was ok until I realized I couldn’t comment and have anyone reply. I went to Reddit when it started but I never found a community. Maybe b/c HN became that community.. kind of. I actually have an earlier account I abandoned because I had been so addicted. But HN has similar slashdot issues and other issues too. I never took to digg.. did anyone? Twitter for me is a new thing but it has similar issues... no engagement. And anywhere I am expert or have a contribution I get downvoted. That’s weird. Kinda like how people feel if they’ve been profiled in the newspaper. Some of it is right but specific details and nuance are wrong. I can see why people feel it’s fake news in some sense. But that’s the nature of the fame.

I’m actually glad the engagement is minimal. It helps me disengage. It feels like a FPS game against all the youngsters.

The moral of the story is to never read the comments. So what does that really mean? It means, be the article, not a comment.

We are just grist in the wind.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#208

Post by monoideism » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 1:36 AM UTC

GreeniFi wrote: post #71

monoideism wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> climate models appear to be more conservative than reality I've read this sentence multiple times and still not sure what it means. Would you please expound?

Of course, and I apologize that it was not more clearly stated. (1) climate models project changes in climate, (2) a body of evidence is emerging that climate volatility is greater in reality than predicted by those models, eg we are on track to hit 1.5 degrees of warming in 5 years time instead of 50, (3) therefore the models were too cautious or conservative in their projection of the rate of change.

Thank you. After reading a few explanations, I think the phrase was fine. I was just parsing it in a political context, as opposed to the original meaning of the word "conservative".

Where can you find up-to-date temperature readings (as up-to-date as possible)? Are there public datasets available?

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#209

Post by MattyRad » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 5:38 AM UTC

It's difficult that in this covid pandemic you'll come off as esoteric or uninformed because you don't stay immediately up to date with the hyperbolized and polarizing news.

For example, just tonight, I wasn't sure exactly the status of bars: whether they are allowed to be open (legally), which ones might choose to be open (socially), which ones have favorable conditions (physically; outdoor seating, mask regulation, that sort of thing). When I asked my friends about the general status, they were somewhat incredulous.

Regardless, I had a nice time socializing, until my girlfriend and I went back to the car, and she immediately started a very uncomfortable diatribe on which of our friends she suspected were Republican based on innocuous comments of recent events.

I guess my point is that even if you try to abstain from the toxicity of current events and of the news, your friends and families can drag you back down, and I don't know how to improve the situation.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#210

Post by smileypete » Sat, Jul 25, 2020, 8:40 AM UTC

smoe wrote: post #89

intended wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What part of seeing the sausage Being made turned You off from eating it?

Maybe sausage is the wrong analogy, since I love them and I find nothing wrong with the ingredients. I'd say it is closer to a fast food meal. Yes they can be very tasty and satiating for a moment but the nutritional value is extremely low. If consumed too much it is pretty bad for you Working in a office complex where about a dozen different news papers and sites were made, just made me realize that the "news" secti…

>Related Article from The Guardian "News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier"

The author, Rolf Dobelli may be worth checking out, though I don't 100% agree with the article.

A good approach may be to do some independent analysis with the widest variety of sources, then use that going forward.

Eg anti Russian and China bias is coming more and more to the fore these days (not saying their leaders are good, far from it) but once its characteristics are recognised it's easier to ignore and not be influenced by it.