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Ask HN: Are you an information addict?

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Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?

#31

Post by bensima »

wgren wrote: post #7

I am trying to use the Pomodoro technique - focus hard for 25 minutes, then relax for 5. This of course requires closing down mail, Twitter etc apps while a Pomodor is running. Unfortunately I still have problems, it is far too easy to open up a browser window and start looking at Hacker News, Digg, Engadget etc. I am thinking about making my own Pomodoro script which puts all my favourite timewasting sites in /etc/h…

I believe RescueTime will block certain websites for certain amounts of time. So you could keep Pandora open while all other sites are blocked. Although you have to pay $6/mo to get the feature.

Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?

#33

Post by joshkaufman »

j_baker wrote: post #28
joshkaufman wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's essentially what I did - given my mild obsession with figuring out how businesses work, I read thousands of books over ~6 years, started a website (personalmba.com), created a 12-week course (crashcourse.personalmba.com), took on private clients, and landed a book deal. I'm essentially paid to learn as much as I can, isolate the useful/practical bits, then teach them to others. If learning comes naturally to y…

How did you get into this line of work? If I could get paid just to learn things and share them with others that were truly motivated to learn, I'd be set for life.

I was learning anyway, but after a while I realized that the main ideas were very valuable, could help people get what they want (start new businesses, get a raise, get promoted, etc.), and that people would be willing to pay for services that helped them get those things.

Starting a blog with a unique name helped the idea spread and allowed me to build an e-mail list. I also started offering coaching services via a free initial consultation - I talk with coaching prospects for an hour with no obligation, then set up an arrangement to meet regularly if we were a good fit. Coaching alone allowed me to quit my day job.

The e-mail list made it easier to test various ways to serve people who found it interesting enough to sign up. The 12-week course tested very well, so I spend ~3 months developing it. Initial signups brought in enough money to pay off all business startup expenses (computers, cameras, software, etc) and pay off all family debts. Everything the business brings in from now on is 90%+ profit, which is a good feeling.

If you can find an intersection between what you like to learn about and knowledge people will be willing to pay you for, you'll be set for life. All you need to do is focus on putting your knowledge into some form people will pay for, then ensure prospective customers find it.

Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?

#34

Post by ajju »

enki wrote: post #29

developing recommendation systems.

This seems to be the approach du jour to 'curing information overload', but a recommendation system typically manifests itself as yet another information source. In my experience, they always exacerbate the problem.

Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?

#35

Post by jeromec »

I'm mostly an information addict when I'm coding in long stretches. What works for me is taking breaks from focusing on logic, just any sort of different mental direction. That's where HN comes in really handy, and as a matter of fact it's how I came to be on this thread.

Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?

#37

Post by fmeyer »

"We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom" - Edward Osborne Wilson

That's something I keep in my mind while I'm coding my one-man-startup project. We have a large amount of information disponible but not enough time to consume it, or even we don't get relevant stuff to read. I've been researching NLP, Semantics and TextMining since university but never faced a real word problem to work with.

My actual project register your interests based on your previous bookmarked/visited websites and suggests summarized content from mainstream information hubs like digg, reddit and HN.

Once I get my cloud/infrastructure done with hackspace, I will release a beta test for the first 2^8 pigraph's twitter follower.

http://pigraph.com/

Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?

#38

Post by edw519 » 

  My friends all think
    that I'm a neb
  Cause I spend much time
    here on the web

  The good things here
    I do not abuse
  Except lots of time
    on hacker news
  
  I don't read reddit
    I will not digg
  I'm not on facebook
    My work's too big

  I do not text
    I do not tweet
  I just work on
    Things that are neat

  I check email
    throughout the day
  But there are no games
    that I will play
    
  My phone's on vibrate
    I do not chat
  My work is really
    Where it's at  
  
  Knuth and Turing
    are my big heroes
  I love to move
    Ones and zeros
   
  My head is down
    I'm in the mode
  Don't bother me
    I have to code
    
  Those who need me
    leave voicemail
  I'm much too busy
    trying not to fail
    
  I learn on-line
    and from my schools
  But I must avoid
    all sorts of trolls
    
  I can't believe
    I wrote this ode
  When I have so much
    I have to code
    
  I'm not an addict
    I have no drug
  I've got to go
    To fix a bug

Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?

#39

Post by whimsy »

The only thing that seems to consistently work for me is disabling my internet connection. Freedom (http://macfreedom.com/) is what I've used. Apparently it costs $10 now, but also works on both Windows and OS X.

With linux, I expect it would be fairly simple to write a script that did the same thing, though I don't know how it would get enforced.

Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?

#40

Post by goodside »

I accept that some people, perhaps even most people, are fully immune to anything like Internet addiction. If you're one of those people, great. I envy you. But I can say from first-hand experience that compulsive Internet use ("Internet addiction" is a casual misnomer at best) is real. Further, I very strongly suspect that low-latency Internet connections, up-to-the-minute news and blogs, and social sharing of content have exacerbated such compulsions by enabling and rewarding rapid-fire consumption and shallow analysis of content.

I doubt these inventions are the only cause of Internet compulsion, but they encourage it in people who have pre-existing compulsive tendencies. Analogously, gambling addiction is known to be caused by excessive dopaminergic activity in the brain, but that doesn't change the fact there would be less of it if there were no casinos.

Many studies show ( http://bit.ly/deum0v ) that compulsive Internet use responds to the same sorts of medications used to treat OCD, namely SSRI antidepressants. You might want to consider speaking with a doctor if your use is really that severe. For me, they have helped considerably.

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