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

Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

m.nautil.us

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 523 posts

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#291

Post by wutbrodo »

jventura wrote: post #158
mod wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I frequently disable reddit, and sometimes HN, in my hosts file. I'm both happy and sad to discover that I don't even know what to do on the internet when they're not available. Happy because it forces me to do something else. Sad because I remember when I truly loved the internet, before reddit or HN, and I wonder why I don't have that love anymore. I really don't know how to use the internet these days.

> I really don't know how to use the internet these days. Same for me. Nowadays when I get bored and have some unproductive time to kill, I usually surf hacker news because I can't think of any other website to read as I quit other social media websites. It's the same happiness/sadness you mention, although the lack of options on the internet has been turning out to be more positive than negative as I've been reading…

> Nowadays when I get bored and have some unproductive time to kill, I usually surf hacker news because I can't think of any other website to read as I quit other social media websites.

An RSS reader really helped me with this. Over years, I found a good handful of blogs that I find insightful more often than not, and I can reliably find something in my RSS feed when I choose to look at it. The SNR is much higher than somewhere like Reddit and Hacker News, and the lack of an account and upvotes means that a big chunk of the dopamine fix is removed.

I would be lying if I didn't mention that I occasionally feel something missing: if I read an article that I think is insightful but wrong in some important way, I miss the pressure-release valve of being able to discuss it with others (Obligatory Xkcd: https://xkcd.com/386/). But I view this more like a compulsion than a legitimate desire, akin to someone with a bad diet craving sugar.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#292

Post by unholiness »

gkya wrote: post #280
unholiness wrote: post #86

I personally haven't found the same effect in long-form media, such as: - Non-fiction books - University-centered online courses - Documentaries - Some of Netflix's original programs - Wikipedia's monthly news summaries - The "Great Courses" on Audible These media aren't thoroughly monetized on a pay-per-attention-stolen model. They're more optimized around having good reviews from friends and online. It makes me won…

> Wikipedia's monthly news summaries I'd be glad if you could provide me with the link to subscribe these summaries if they're email newsletters. I could not find them in the wiki itself.

They used to be more standard articles, now it's this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events/November...

There's not a way to subscribe to it, though it's not obvious how a subscription would work. The summary of any given day is not finished at the end of the day. Rather, the set of articles for that day, their summaries, and the articles themselves will all continue to grow as more information is gathered. So, it is a good way to "catch up" after some time away from current events. But to my knowledge there's no coordinated effort to "finish" a day or a month by any deadline.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#293

Post by xster »

free_everybody wrote: post #256

Stop carrying your smartphone. Leave it at home. If you must because your family/work depends on you, then delete every app. Use your laptop as your main driver. If you need to, get a laptop with better battery life. Start developing a personal philosophy of internet usage. Here is mine: Category 3 [Abstain from completely] Reddit (Yes, all of reddit), Facebook ... Category 2 [Check once every couple days ~15 min tot…

Corporate media like NYT and WashPo etc that writes things like you must be crazy to not believe there are WMDs in Iraq are not serious news sites. Rich != serious. And hegemonic news smearing all sources of independent journalism and grassroot progressive political movements is just about the opposite of the point of this article.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#294

Post by Moru »

Ofcourse all real hackers saw this coming already 25 years ago :)

I did not get a mobile phone because I wanted to be off when I wasn't working. When mobile internet came I kept only the nokia I was forced to have, just so I could not get email when I was off work. Still do not use twitter or anything else. Recently bought a tv but nothing on so seldom used. Kids friends visiting always says "oh, what a small tv!" (32 inch).

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#295

Post by Terr_ »

senko wrote: post #128
tribune wrote: post #34

I've been coming to resent my smartphone more and more, essentially because of this. I recently quit using tobacco. I remembered all the warnings from my school health classes about how hard it was to quit once you start, how there's a physical dependence and all that. It was uncomfortable at times, and there were plenty of cravings to get over, but I was ultimately successful. I can compare this to the couple of tim…

Here's how I (try to) keep the Internet-based distractions to a minimum: * Uninstall twitter, facebook and other social apps from your phone; only use the computer (or other device that's not constantly in your pocket). * Even on your computer, log out of twitter, facebook and others. Only log in when you want to look into something (eg. check the social events, send a message), and use private/incognito mode for thi…

> Even on your computer, log out of twitter, facebook and others. Only log in when you want to look into something

Even without going as far as "incognito mode for everything", this can dovetail well with a privacy-conscious cookie or browser-profile policy.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#297

Post by jackstraw14 »

projektir wrote: post #285
free_everybody wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great points. If you stop consuming cable television and take a step back, you can see that pundit news shows and professional sports have so much in common. It's "right" vs "wrong", "red" vs "blue", "stupid" vs "smart", "weak" vs "strong", etc. There's a winner. There's a loser. You aren't a loser, are you? Don't forget to buy Doritos. Since media isn't going way, we really need to create alternative systems that st…

> There's a winner. There's a loser. You aren't a loser, are you? The whole world runs on this. If you catch it at the right time, you can avoid a lot of mental traps.

Took me 30 years to think I've finally kicked that bullshit. I'm still not sure.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#298

Post by eckza »

Moru wrote: post #294

Ofcourse all real hackers saw this coming already 25 years ago :) I did not get a mobile phone because I wanted to be off when I wasn't working. When mobile internet came I kept only the nokia I was forced to have, just so I could not get email when I was off work. Still do not use twitter or anything else. Recently bought a tv but nothing on so seldom used. Kids friends visiting always says "oh, what a small tv!" (3…

I feel you! I had a 32", only upgraded to a 42" because my brother was selling it for $100.

42" seems huge to me but everyone I know has 70", 80" TVs.

Re: Modern Media Is a DoS Attack on Free Will

#299

Post by anigbrowl »

kadenshep wrote: post #271
anigbrowl wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it isn't. It's the more prosaic observation that governments are more accountable by procedural mechanisms than privately owned firms. How well those mechanisms work is subject to wide variance; nobody believes that North Korea actually operates in a democratic fashion,. but there are many countries that self-evidently do. The concept of a constitutional republic (as opposed to all of its real world implementation…

The most level headed statement instead of immediately going with some Libertarian thought terminating cliche and it's being downvoted.

I'd be lonely without my downvoting groupies :-)
Post reply on HN