Ask HN: Are you still an information addict?

#1

Post by ghotli » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 12:29 AM UTC

About a month ago quite a few of you identified yourselves as information addicts. Do you feel as if you've been doing better? What strategies have you adopted to curb your information addiction?

Previous thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1293262

Re: Ask HN: Are you still an information addict?

#2

Post by lukeqsee » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 1:39 AM UTC

Is there something wrong with being addicted to information?

Is that not the single thing that ties us together? Knowing this and that; then using that knowledge to connect to others? Maybe I'm missing something, but is there ever too much information?

Re: Ask HN: Are you still an information addict?

#3

Post by davidmathers » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 1:44 AM UTC

lukeqsee wrote: post #2

Is there something wrong with being addicted to information? Is that not the single thing that ties us together? Knowing this and that; then using that knowledge to connect to others? Maybe I'm missing something, but is there ever too much information?

Is there something wrong with being addicted to information?

http://pyxelated.deviantart.com/art/Reality-1440x900-7886180...

Re: Ask HN: Are you still an information addict?

#4

Post by lukeqsee » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 1:57 AM UTC

davidmathers wrote: post #3

lukeqsee wrote: post #2

Is there something wrong with being addicted to information? Is that not the single thing that ties us together? Knowing this and that; then using that knowledge to connect to others? Maybe I'm missing something, but is there ever too much information?

Is there something wrong with being addicted to information? http://pyxelated.deviantart.com/art/Reality-1440x900-7886180...

Your brain takes in information 100% of the time.

You just decide which information you put in.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still an information addict?

#5

Post by bdickason » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 1:58 AM UTC

This is going to sound sad but.. I have been fullscreening videos and forcing myself not to press escape and check email/hnews/etc.

It really helps and I'm trying to find something similar with webpages and Balsamiq Mockups.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still an information addict?

#6

Post by bdickason » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 2:02 AM UTC

lukeqsee wrote: post #2

Is there something wrong with being addicted to information? Is that not the single thing that ties us together? Knowing this and that; then using that knowledge to connect to others? Maybe I'm missing something, but is there ever too much information?

I have found that as I become more 'addicted' to information, my life has become more scatterbrained. I find it harder to remember things and my attention span slowly grew shorter and shorter. I hate to admit this as it makes me sound inferior, but it's true.

I've been combatting this by not checking my email/twitter on the subway and just focusing on the book I'm reading, and watching videos in full screen.

Also using Tweetdeck has helped alot because I no longer check Twitter compulsively. I wait for a tweet to come in then respond.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still an information addict?

#7

Post by dennisgorelik » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 2:07 AM UTC

Hamas used that picture for their own propaganda purposes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gilad_Shalit_on_Hamas_post... :-O

Re: Ask HN: Are you still an information addict?

#8

Post by rianjs » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 2:11 AM UTC

For me, information consumption is a substitute (in the economic sense) for television. It's a leisure activity. It fills the gap when I'm not doing Real Work. When I get bogged down, I just declare RSS bankruptcy and start over. shrug

Re: Ask HN: Are you still an information addict?

#9

Post by Recontemplation » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 2:16 AM UTC

I am doing better. I began asking myself weather I wanted to be running my own company in two years or have read a ton of HN the last two years. Information addiction can be as bad as tv for me.

Re: Ask HN: Are you still an information addict?

#10

Post by w33dkid » Sun, Jun 06, 2010, 2:19 AM UTC

YES I AM/CANT LIVE WITHOUT IT