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Do you read HackerNews all day and never actually do anything?

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Re: Do you read HackerNews all day and never actually do anything?

#31

Post by AgentConundrum »

chrisbroadfoot wrote: post #25
AgentConundrum wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never used the noprocrast option on HN, but I've tried other things. The problem is that pretty much any roadblock you put up can be trivially defeated. For example, if I were to put sites like reddit or HN in my hosts file, and point them to 127.0.0.1, it really wouldn't take me more than 30 seconds or so to get around it. It should work as a reminder that, "oh yeah, I should be doing something else" but that n…

For example, if I were to put sites like reddit or HN in my hosts file, and point them to 127.0.0.1, it really wouldn't take me more than 30 seconds or so to get around it. It should work as a reminder that, "oh yeah, I should be doing something else" but that never seems to work for me. I did this when writing my dissertation. It worked really well. I find that most of my browsing comes from clicking through to the…

It's just too easily defeated for it to really work on me, since I convince myself that I'll just check this one thing, then I'll go back to working.

It's the exact same thought process that, after I've been up all night and I'm trying to stay up all day to reset my internal clock, convinces me that it's ok to lay down in my bed for a minute. I inevitably wake up quite confused a number of hours later.

I saw a site once that you can route your procrastination sites to. When you browse the site (by IP address, naturally) it displays a message saying basically "you blocked this for a reason... slacker." Since I can't remember the address anymore, I've been thinking about installing a web server on my laptop to emulate it.

Edit: I found it. The address is 66.135.33.106 and it just displays the message "You've chosen to block this site in your hosts file."

Re: Do you read HackerNews all day and never actually do anything?

#33

Post by vilius »

How many hours does HN distraction cost you? For me it was like 2 hours per day, until I reached a point where I felt that I knew just enough to actually go and start doing something. Building something was the way to test my knowledge. Now I'm in progress with my first startup and HN browsing takes 15 minutes, I mainly bookmark stories that might benefit the project I am working with, it keeps me going.

So my advice would be, go and test how well you know "THE GAME", build something!

Re: Do you read HackerNews all day and never actually do anything?

#34

Post by chrisbroadfoot »

AgentConundrum wrote: post #31
chrisbroadfoot wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For example, if I were to put sites like reddit or HN in my hosts file, and point them to 127.0.0.1, it really wouldn't take me more than 30 seconds or so to get around it. It should work as a reminder that, "oh yeah, I should be doing something else" but that never seems to work for me. I did this when writing my dissertation. It worked really well. I find that most of my browsing comes from clicking through to the…

It's just too easily defeated for it to really work on me, since I convince myself that I'll just check this one thing, then I'll go back to working. It's the exact same thought process that, after I've been up all night and I'm trying to stay up all day to reset my internal clock, convinces me that it's ok to lay down in my bed for a minute. I inevitably wake up quite confused a number of hours later. I saw a site o…

Okay - you need some semblance of self control.

For me, it's a subconscious thing. It's close to mindlessly browsing.

Forwarding to that message wouldn't do anything for me. I think the most important thing was just that "neg" to break out of the mindlessness and get back on track :)

Re: Do you read HackerNews all day and never actually do anything?

#35

Post by klbarry »

Keep in mind sites like Reddit and HN are pretty addictive in a chemical way (so can your email be). When you see something interesting or that agrees with your identity your brain gives you a hit of dopamine. You browse and look for the funny or fascinating because you remember finding somehting great earlier.

It's funny because Reddit hates advertising/mass manipulation etc but are being manipulated by the group all the time in many ways.

Re: Do you read HackerNews all day and never actually do anything?

#36

Post by fharper1961 »

emilepetrone wrote: post #28

Download Selfcontrol, set it for 8 hours, and block HN, Fb, news sites, etc. It blocks those sites you waste time on, and you cannot change the settings by quitting the app or even restarting your computer. It's great.

MacOS only for now.

Re: Do you read HackerNews all day and never actually do anything?

#37

Post by SkuldOMG »

My problem is that my time is occupied by other things at the moment. I read Hacker News (and Hackers Monthly) every day before heading to University and during my afternoon cup(s) of coffee and feel really inspired to get something done, but work for University and for an upcoming language exam keep me so busy that I don't have the time to actually get some coding done.

I hope that changes sometime soon..

Re: Do you read HackerNews all day and never actually do anything?

#38

Post by Estragon »

AgentConundrum wrote: post #31
chrisbroadfoot wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For example, if I were to put sites like reddit or HN in my hosts file, and point them to 127.0.0.1, it really wouldn't take me more than 30 seconds or so to get around it. It should work as a reminder that, "oh yeah, I should be doing something else" but that never seems to work for me. I did this when writing my dissertation. It worked really well. I find that most of my browsing comes from clicking through to the…

It's just too easily defeated for it to really work on me, since I convince myself that I'll just check this one thing, then I'll go back to working. It's the exact same thought process that, after I've been up all night and I'm trying to stay up all day to reset my internal clock, convinces me that it's ok to lay down in my bed for a minute. I inevitably wake up quite confused a number of hours later. I saw a site o…

I still find it useful, because it slows you down, and forces you to take steps which are not habitual (at least at first.) This gives me time to think about what I'm doing, before the positive feedback loop sets in.

Re: Do you read HackerNews all day and never actually do anything?

#40

Post by dragons »

No, I work at my 9-5 job all day. I usually peruse HN over breakfast or dinner. After dinner, and on weekends, I work on coding a little application of my own.

I find that it helps to read HN to keep me motivated. I doubt I'll ever make much money off of the applications I create. But it's encouraging to read about people who do.

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