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

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

#71

Post by GreeniFi »

monoideism wrote: post #58
GreeniFi wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a non-subjective basis, there are many bad things going on in the world, with implications for both ourselves and our families. A genuine question: is it access to news or content of the news that messes with our sense of wellbeing? Does “the media” upset me, or knowledge, for example that climate models appear to be more conservative than reality, upset me? In not reading the news, are we simply happy in the way…

> 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.

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

#72

Post by Dumblydorr »

Your brain gives you dopamine reward hits when you find a new article or topic, then you form a habit of looking for those dopamine hits. This habit is physically manifest in neural circuitry which your brain uses like a function to simplify its decision making, it uses that process to fill time and release dopamine.

So, you have to retrain your brain not to even start the process, you must be mindful and interrupt the process as it starts. Also, make the barrier to entry into the process very high, make it annoying and inconvenient to do the bad habit.

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

#73

Post by tgb »

kampsduac wrote: post #41
frereubu wrote: post #21

Seems an appropriate time to post my favourite piece on news addiction by Charles Simic in the NYRB. "I’m having trouble deciding whether I understand the world better now that I’m in my seventies than I did when I was younger, or whether I’m becoming more and more clueless every day. The truth is somewhere in between, I suspect, but that doesn’t make me rest any easier at night. Like others growing old, I had expect…

> no longer reading the papers and watching television This is what I do, in addition to no social media except for certain personal alerts. I ask my partner to relay any significant news/events to me. I do support my local media group The Colorado Sun with a membership and sometimes read through their articles, which don't have advertisements so they are not incentivised to produce click-bait headlines and sponsored…

You don't consider HN to be social media?

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

#74

Post by germinalphrase »

omarhaneef wrote: post #67

It may be the case that we just crave variety. If I am scrolling hacker news, and someone opened a portal to the Australian outback, I’d probably put down HN (sorry, folks) and crawl through the portal to hang out for a bit. I lived on a beach for years and in a big city for several, and in each place I craved the other.

> If I am scrolling hacker news, and someone opened a portal to the Australian outback, I’d probably put down HN (sorry, folks) and crawl through the portal to hang out for a bit.

Which will, of course, be a fun VR diversion when the fully immersive video capture is accessible enough.

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

#77

Post by drewcoo »

Marketing. And it's not just news or why fizzy water and clothing and everything else that's sold to make you feel special. It's why we like pickup trucks now. And why we think everyone should have a gun. And why drugs seem so dangerous. And even why our notions of "left wing" in American seem awfully far to the right if we step back out of our typical context. All the result of marketing.

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

#78

Post by hoorayimhelping »

A therapist or coach recommended this book called the Power of Habit. https://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business/dp/081....

The central theme of that book is that people attribute dumb behaviors to things like chemical dependence, when in fact it's a behavioral habit. The classic example from the book is people trying to quit smoking. You kick the physical dependency in a few days - the headaches and irritability go away, but smokers still relapse months or years afterwards. Why? It's because the smoking formed a habit to their brain, and their brain associated good feelings with smoking.

Read the book. But if you don't: Your brain has trained you to feel good when you read the news. You break this habit by replacing the good feeling of reading the news with a good feeling from some other, positive, healthy activity. Example: every time you get a desire to pull out your phone, do 10 pushups instead. You get a little physical exercise, and your brain starts associating positive feelings with positive activities.

Also, why the hell do you have notifications turned on if you're worried about the phone or the news being addictive? It's like asking to have cravings amplified. Turn off badges, notifications, etc. Check it on your own time and terms.

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

#79

Post by frereubu »

GreeniFi wrote: post #50
Dangeranger wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate this. Watching the news cycle feels like being in an abusive relationship. You watch and wait for the next eruption, anticipating if it will be violent or joyful. It leaves you feeling depleted and helpless.

On a non-subjective basis, there are many bad things going on in the world, with implications for both ourselves and our families. A genuine question: is it access to news or content of the news that messes with our sense of wellbeing? Does “the media” upset me, or knowledge, for example that climate models appear to be more conservative than reality, upset me? In not reading the news, are we simply happy in the way…

For me personally, it's the volume. If you concentrate on your local area, particularly if you live somewhere smaller than a city, there are crimes and tragedies, but even if some of them are horrible they're relatively few and far between, and can be processed mentally. If you take the entire world of 7+ billion people you could spend your entire waking hours reading about brutality, tragedy and horror from around the world and not run out. Many of us - particuiarly new addicts - have psychologies that are tuned to stories which provoke emotion, so we're drawn to those them. Until relatively recently, you wouldn't be able to get many of those stories outside of occsaional TV programmes and "World's Grisliest Murders" books. But now there's a firehose of horror that you can tap into and it's both fascinating and debilitating. I've found the only way is to do what Charles Simic's dad did, and not read it. I hope that there's some kind of a resurgence in online local journalism that's not driven by advertising, because that feels like the only thing I should read on a day-to-day basis, unless there's something of national importance going on (which, unfortunately, in these days does actually seem to be every day).

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

#80

Post by frereubu »

jacknews wrote: post #68
frereubu wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing that works for me is what worked for his dad - don't read it. Make sure you read around at times when it's relevant - before you vote for example - but don't torture yourself with news that (a) isn't actionable and (b) isn't relevant to you. I've steadily weaned myself off social networks, and am now doing the same for news sites. I've started reading more books (I prefer physical books because I find…

A problem with factual books is the format. Sometimes a concept only needs 50 pages to explain, support, and explore implications, yet grows to 300 pages to fill the format.

This is true, but I regularly get recommended good non-fiction books by friends which don't suffer from that, so they are out there.
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