I'm out of the dating game (thank god) but I noticed dating apps completely ruined dating in all other areas as well.
This is something both my male and female associates complain about.
Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?
281–290 of 387 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?
#282We've learned that better tools doesn't actually create more productivity. Lots of people talk about how they dread email. A singular mega tool like Facebook or Evernote isn't great. Lots of disparate little tools isn't much better. We've learned that data is unreliable. The highest click through rates come from nudity, or totally gross things like gore and trypophobia triggering holes. The highest CTR on text comes…
> We've learned that better tools doesn't actually create more productivity. Lots of people talk about how they dread email. A singular mega tool like Facebook or Evernote isn't great. Lots of disparate little tools isn't much better. I'm struggling to figure out what you mean by this. Obviously it's not literally true (I've saved my colleagues thousands of hours with some of the tools I've made), but I can't figure…
I think of it as a type of supply-side vs demand-side economics.
I think most employers assumed that employees with a 2x faster computer would send 2x the emails (or whatever task) in the same amount of time. In reality, they might send the same number of emails in half the time, then go home early.
Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your story is actually probably what the parent was trying to illustrate. Instead of wasting time with WoW, you "wasted" time with something more meaningful (all this being relative of course).
I'm not as quick to assume reading a textbook is inherantly more meaningful than playing WoW.
Hence my very last (caveat). I'm sure you understand my point though.
Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see this observation on HN pretty often, but I'm not sure I'm convinced. Do later generations know fewer things, or just different things?
That seems like the wrong question. The topic was computer literacy and knowing different, non-computer things is irrelevant and knowing stuff about Fortnite, while computer-related, is not literacy.
Yeah, also while in the past Fortnite might have been replaced by Counterstrike - that allowed players to run dedicated servers, it was itself a Half Life mod etc. so there was just more opportunities to learn technical skills.
Now it seems it's all about consuming services in walled gardens - no learning required, or even allowed.
Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?
#285- Technical: I hate when i get a call on skype and 2 computers and a phone start ringing in concert. And this is default behavior that cant be turned off. I think a lot of apps do that - Apps that spam your contacts list and notifications that keep coming even when you closed the app. In the name of dumbproofing everything we ve made it hard to keep secrets secret - Probably not getting out of the house as much - An…
...and the other devices continue to ring after you’ve answered the call :(
Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
> We wanted it. I'm not entirely convinced this is accurate. It definitely is in part, but not in whole. We wanted these better search tools and we like recommendation systems. But I know a lot of people are frustrated with algorithms like YouTube's recommendation system trapping them. (e.g. watch one Joe Rogan video and you get firehosed with more JRE videos). The thing is we also don't notice that this reinforcemen…
But does Youtube's recommendation system trap you any more than old media? I remember having much the same feeling with library books. I've read 10 pages of this author's thoughts and I really want to pick up something else - but I don't have time to go to the library this week, so I guess I'm stuck reading the other 290 pages.
YouTube would decide that since you engage with that book, you want more books from that author and put those books at the top of the catalog for you.
Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?
#287Optimising for "engagement". I don't think, at least to start with, that Machiavellian intentions were behind it. But it turned out that optimising for the thing that got the most likes, the most retweets, the most emotional reactions, and the most views from people was a shit way of deciding what information should propagate the furthest. That is a paperclip maximiser. I don't think we, collectively, have fully come…
There was a great series of talks a few years ago called “is anything worth maximizing?”. Unfortunately, the videos seem to be down, but his medium post is still up: https://medium.com/what-to-build/is-anything-worth-maximizin...
Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?
#288For me, tech has turned into a crutch when I don't know what to do. I've caught myself in the middle of automatic behavior and it's a bit scary - opening Reddit or HN, closing it because I've already read everything on the front page, then opening it again a few seconds later without even thinking about it. I wonder what I would be doing without it. Creating art? Going out? I'd have to do something. It's something I…
The best hack I’ve found is leaving the pdf of a book I’ve been meaning to read as the top tab in my phone’s web browser. Doesn’t work when when I reflex-tap into reddit, but if I reflex-tap into the browser looking for HN, I immediately get side-tracked into “oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to read this”.
I’d like to set up a service to which you send in a book, and it texts you one page at a time (you can ask it for the next page), and nags you if it’s been a few days without using it.
Too often the information junk food turns into an hour-long binge. I could have made real progress towards my goals in that time.
In general, a service which can slice up your goals into very small units of work or very small exercises, and harasses you for constant engagement could be a huge win. Don’t get rid of the anti-patterns, harness them for your own ends!!!
Re: Ask HN: What are unintended consequences of new tech you've noticed?
#289Everyone is oblivious to their surroundings. Whether it’s because they’re looking down at their smartphone or listening to a podcast or music on their AirPods, people aren’t paying attention to what’s happening around them, and they are walking out into streets without looking for cars, assuming no one is coming. I bike most places, and the number of pedestrians (and other bicyclists!) who can’t hear my bike bell is…
> I bike most places, and the number of pedestrians (and other bicyclists!) who can’t hear my bike bell is astounding. Two words: Air Zound. It can get the attention of even the most oblivious jogger. ;) I can't stand to wear headphones when walking or biking. I want to hear what's around me.
is it legal to wear headphones when biking?