Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I gave up TV, then qualified for Olympic marathon trials and got my PhD

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 38 posts

Re: I gave up TV, then qualified for Olympic marathon trials and got my PhD

#21

Post by afarrell »

neel8986 wrote: post #9

We at least have an option of not buying TV. Internet addiction is far worse. The sad part is I can not even avoid my laptop as it is where I do all my work. The device on which we work is slowly the biggest source of our time sink

You might consider using an app like Freedom, Cold Turkey, or SelfControl to block certain websites at different times.

Some people consider such tools to be a crutch, but unless you'd advise a dieter to keep cookies on their living-room table, you should agree that those people are silly.

Re: I gave up TV, then qualified for Olympic marathon trials and got my PhD

#22

Post by fred_is_fred »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #7

Narcissism, I would argue, is a far more dangerous thing than TV. The author's narcissism lets her celebrate all these unlikable cliches: being a fitness guru, being an "aspiring writer," being an academic overachiever, having a perfect husband and incoming baby or whatever. Then the style: preachy, written in the first person, chronologically. As though the only way to write about yourself is like an upbeat propagan…

I agree with you here. This is written in the preachy way that people post to Facebook and then say "#blessed" at the end. The whole purpose of this is to say how their lives are better than yours.

Re: I gave up TV, then qualified for Olympic marathon trials and got my PhD

#23

Post by hollerith »

Johnny555 wrote: post #20
neel8986 wrote: post #9

We at least have an option of not buying TV. Internet addiction is far worse. The sad part is I can not even avoid my laptop as it is where I do all my work. The device on which we work is slowly the biggest source of our time sink

Just edit your hosts file and route your most time consuming websites (i.e. hackernews) to localhost: 127.0.0.1 news.ycombinator.com www.facebook.com www.youtube.com

On OS X 10.8, routing to 127.0.0.1 did not block the site reliably (with Firefox), but 0.0.0.0 did and still does on OS X 10.11 (with Firefox and Chrome).

Re: I gave up TV, then qualified for Olympic marathon trials and got my PhD

#25

Post by j7ake »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #7

Narcissism, I would argue, is a far more dangerous thing than TV. The author's narcissism lets her celebrate all these unlikable cliches: being a fitness guru, being an "aspiring writer," being an academic overachiever, having a perfect husband and incoming baby or whatever. Then the style: preachy, written in the first person, chronologically. As though the only way to write about yourself is like an upbeat propagan…

Yes I agree. There are countless number of people who get their PhDs and also are good athletes... I don't see why her story is remarkable. There was nothing about what her thesis was about or what kind of book she was writing...It's not clear what her contribution to science or literature was actually.

The article did not have much content beyond success related words such as PhD, writing and marathon. Someone might as well write an article about their 200k salary.

Re: I gave up TV, then qualified for Olympic marathon trials and got my PhD

#26

Post by warrshrike »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #7

Narcissism, I would argue, is a far more dangerous thing than TV. The author's narcissism lets her celebrate all these unlikable cliches: being a fitness guru, being an "aspiring writer," being an academic overachiever, having a perfect husband and incoming baby or whatever. Then the style: preachy, written in the first person, chronologically. As though the only way to write about yourself is like an upbeat propagan…

I agree completely. Couldn't have put it better myself. It's written in that oh-so-common upbeat and preachy style so common to the web these days.

Articles on Medium, blogs about 'giving it all up' and backpacking etc. Barf.

Re: I gave up TV, then qualified for Olympic marathon trials and got my PhD

#27

Post by dougmwne »

rdlecler1 wrote: post #2

This article makes the assumption that people are not watching TV as a mental decompressor. Depending on your job and hours you may very well not have the physical and mental energy left over to engage in extreme physical and mental activity.

I have personally found that TV and social media checking are not particularly restorative activities after a stressful day. Light exercise or a nap on the other hand are like a magic elixir. Perhaps the ultimate YMMV.

Re: I gave up TV, then qualified for Olympic marathon trials and got my PhD

#29

Post by erikpukinskis »

j7ake wrote: post #25
doctorpangloss wrote: post #7

Narcissism, I would argue, is a far more dangerous thing than TV. The author's narcissism lets her celebrate all these unlikable cliches: being a fitness guru, being an "aspiring writer," being an academic overachiever, having a perfect husband and incoming baby or whatever. Then the style: preachy, written in the first person, chronologically. As though the only way to write about yourself is like an upbeat propagan…

Yes I agree. There are countless number of people who get their PhDs and also are good athletes... I don't see why her story is remarkable. There was nothing about what her thesis was about or what kind of book she was writing...It's not clear what her contribution to science or literature was actually. The article did not have much content beyond success related words such as PhD, writing and marathon. Someone might…

> It's not clear what her contribution to science or literature was actually.

Her dissertation is here: https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/70983...

Title is "A Novel Role for Fyn in ApoER2 Regulation"

I can't help but wonder whether you have questioned her contribution to science if she was a man and wrote the same article. I'll let you say whether you think you would though, as I could only speculate.

Re: I gave up TV, then qualified for Olympic marathon trials and got my PhD

#30

Post by grenoire »

stevefeinstein wrote: post #5

I gave up TV, those things didn't happen, but my wife left me, and took the kids and the dog

It's a zero sum game, of course. For each person who achieves their goals after stopping watching TV, someone else has theirs crushed.
Post reply on HN