I Used to Be a Human Being • Hacker News Board

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#161

Post by kp1234321 » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 9:05 PM UTC

pmoriarty wrote: post #51

hitekker wrote: post #9

"I used to be a human being": I like this phrase. It captures, poetically, the existential despair of losing the conditions of humanity. Regardless of if the author's particular conditions necessitates the implicit drama, each of one us, I'm sure, have felt like we lost what made us "real" or "authentic" at some point or another.

People have complained about the loss of authenticity for much longer than the internet (much less social media) has been around. It happens around any time of great change. We happen to be living through a period of some of the fastest changes in human history, so it's not surprising a lot of people are confused and feel like they've lost something.

> We happen to be living through a period of some of the fastest changes in human history

Couldn't this have been said accurately at just about every point in human history? I'm not asking to try and refute what you said - I think that supports the first point you made. The world is always changing at an exponential rate and we are always on the curve, so people will continue to lament loss of the past until the end of time.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#162

Post by marmot777 » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 9:08 PM UTC

sliverstorm wrote: post #150

marmot777 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel for you but please, please don't let email be the channel that has a hold on you. Pick another one to be a slave to. Is it work or personal? If it's work is it urgent? I ask these questions because you could set some rules on email. I check my personal email once per day. My masters are facebook and text.

Personal. Work email is there for the calendar sync (very useful), but I feel little compulsion to check it. For a while I completely removed email from my phone, but that was a pain when I legitimately needed, for example, an RMA number while standing in the post office. You're right, rules plus zero notifications would probably work well. Or, perhaps enable notifications and set it to check only once a day.

You're actually lucky that email's your poison. It's the most aync mode out there, especially if people adjust to not receiving an immediate response.

I have friends that have trained me not to expect an immediate response to texts so I know it's possible to use text more async for everything that's not urgent. If not responding immediately is your default, it's not a break from your normal behavior to delay. I'd like to attempt this one for text as that would remove the temptation to break focus on another activity to check my phone. If I text some people right now with a mundane little thing I know who I will hear back from in 2 minutes, 24 hours, and never. It wasn't worth responding to. That's a good friend, ignores you when you're lame.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#163

Post by SolaceQuantum » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 9:23 PM UTC

jsprogrammer wrote: post #128

SolaceQuantum wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you do if the situation you are in do not allow time to sit down and perform deep introspective behavior? I find myself very easily falling into introspection to the point where my mind often cries out for it if I go without for a while. However, my current work and the balancing of multiple careers (as a programmer, as a writer) and social obligations mean I often don't have time and feel intense stress/dist…

You can take time when you need it. Why do you need two careers? Aren't programming and writing the same thing? Take a break from one for a week or two and use that time to talk to yourself.

Writing gives me a reason to live. Programming gives me an enjoyable means to live.

A bit of a hyperbole but there are things in my mind that can only be acceptably expressed and understood by others when I write them as fictional worlds. Things programming can't express.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#164

Post by fudged71 » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 9:30 PM UTC

CMYK5 wrote: post #11

resetting wrote: post #7

I'd be interested to hear everyone's strategies to combat this, as I assume many of us that work in the industry encounter similar problems of distraction and inundation. First, I don't use any devices directly after waking up. I meditate for about 20 minutes upon waking and then try to read fiction for 40 minutes. So, all in, somewhere around an hour of no device distractions before starting my day. Slack is one of…

One thing that has helped me is a "digital purge." I do mine on New Years Day, and I go through every app and ruthlessly un-follow/unfriend anyone who doesn't isn't contributing positively to me in some way (sometimes deleting entire apps). At the end of the day I'm offering these people direct access to me multiple times daily. If I don't get a positive outcome from these interactions, why keep them around?

I agree, a purge is a good step, although it's not a total solution. It feels like spring cleaning.

The privacy/notification tools on each site update over time and so do our interests in people and topics, so it makes sense to go in and jig things around every once in a while.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#165

Post by wutbrodo » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 9:34 PM UTC

sliverstorm wrote: post #81

marmot777 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true in the same sense that soap has become a tool of OCD people. I don't even install games and never have so I don't know what I'm missing. I also turn off notifications, too. That's a must for all but a critical communication channel.

I have been going around and around on notifications. If sound is enabled, my phone interrupts me for trivial things & spam. If only notification is enabled, I constantly pick up my phone to see if I have email. If nothing is enabled, I unlock my phone & open my email app to see if I have email- less frequent, but more likely to get sucked in. None of these things are good.

Why not just turn off all notifications but e-mail (or at least make them silent), and then only set audible notifications for emails that match a filter? There will undoubtedly be false positives and negatives in any such filter, but it seems like it would enable you to open the email app to check email far less often.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#166

Post by wutbrodo » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 9:34 PM UTC

sliverstorm wrote: post #81

marmot777 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true in the same sense that soap has become a tool of OCD people. I don't even install games and never have so I don't know what I'm missing. I also turn off notifications, too. That's a must for all but a critical communication channel.

I have been going around and around on notifications. If sound is enabled, my phone interrupts me for trivial things & spam. If only notification is enabled, I constantly pick up my phone to see if I have email. If nothing is enabled, I unlock my phone & open my email app to see if I have email- less frequent, but more likely to get sucked in. None of these things are good.

Why not just turn off all notifications but e-mail (or at least make them silent) and then set a filter for what types of message you want?

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#167

Post by dohertyjf » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 9:35 PM UTC

jonstokes wrote: post #79

The number one thing I've found to be effective in combatting this is sleep. I have to get 8 hours of uninterrupted, unmedicated sleep. 9 hours is even better. And I have to do it for a few nights in a row. If I do anything at all that interferes with the quality of my sleep, I'm screwed, and The Stream will suck me in. Conversely, things that increase the quality of my sleep -- exercise, diet, not using gadgets afte…

Indeed. I also leave my phone in another room and have a separate alarm clock. Really helps with quality sleep!

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#168

Post by blisse » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 9:43 PM UTC

callmeed wrote: post #145

morgante wrote: post #115

To me, this reads like an alcoholic ranting about how everyone should stop drinking. Yes, technology can be addicting. That doesn't mean we're "helpless" or even that it's bad . I'm really sick of these hyperbolic luddites. Personally, it's not at all a problem. I'm not a technophobe—I have an iPhone, use Facebook, etc.—but it's done nothing but positively improve my life. I can keep in touch with friends around the…

Respectfully disagree with your view. Technology in and of itself is not bad. But when technology is run by technology companies whose motive is profit, it can be bad. I think what we're seeing is new externalities caused by technology. I think junk food + soda + obesity is a more apt analogy than alcoholism. It's easy to say "don't get addicted to junk food or soda" but you have to remember that these companies spec…

But with your junk food analogy, there are still alternatives and it's up to you to decide how you live your life.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#169

Post by zeveb » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 9:44 PM UTC

dredmorbius wrote: post #139

zeveb wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It almost feels like a grown up version of Facebook. Yup, I really like it, although recently (as it's emptied out) the public communities have gotten significantly worse. 'Facebook for adults' sounds like a wonderful thing. My hope now is that maybe we can build it as a community, rather than as a product.

How do you mean G+ has emptied out? Honestly curious as I've been keeping tabs on the whole dynamic of the site -- from initial high hopes to present near-complete disillusionment.

What I mean is that the public communities seem to have lost whatever participants they had originally had. Now it's a lot like reading the comments section on the local paper's website, only with names which are more difficult to pronounce. Lots of trolling, lots of spamming, lots of Pe0PLe Wh0 ++don't__ knoW h0w to Wr1te!!!1!11!eleven!!

I still have some affection for G+, but … it's kinda like the affection one has for an awkward family photo from one's youth.

Re: I Used to Be a Human Being

#170

Post by cle » Wed, Sep 21, 2016, 9:46 PM UTC

simonbarker87 wrote: post #8

I read somewhere recently that smart phones have essentially become random gratification engines in the same way as slot machines. Sometimes on a slot machine you win the jackpot, because of this every pull gives you an endorphin kick, each time we pick up our phones or get a notification it might be an important/interesting thing, therefore we get a little endorphin kick that keeps us checking. Because of this I tur…

I get this same unnerving feeling from most video games, and once I notice it, it's hard to want to continue since I get the feeling of being "duped". Most modern games follow these same principles and it's really infuriating. The games I really enjoy are the ones where the "rewards" are subtle enough that I don't notice that they're consciously trying to addict me. Or games where the "rewards" are self-generated (open-ended games like Minecraft come to mind).