Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life?

#261

Post by ryeights » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 7:03 PM UTC

throwawayboise wrote: post #251

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet you'll love these before-and-after photos of Sao Paolo after their outdoor advertising ban: https://99percentinvisible.org/article/clean-city-law-secret... Anti-advertising was one of the pet causes of Generation X, back before more pressing things like "the war on terror" and a financial collapse and health care crisis took the stage. And those are bigger deals, but man, advertising is just awful too.

Signs are ugly, but I don't think it's right to tell people they can't have a sign on their property. Property rights and freedom of speech are worth tolerating a bit of eyesore.

Disagree. We have regulations for noise levels emitting from people’s private property, for example, for the sake of public interest.

Re: Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life?

#262

Post by silksowed » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 7:04 PM UTC

colechristensen wrote: post #237

Yhippa wrote: post #6

I reach for my smartphone the microsecond I have idle time. I can't read things longer than 280 characters.

Just turn it off sometimes. It really helps.

even an hour with a turned off phone can make a noticeable difference. just some time to breath without any notifications is wonderful

Re: Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life?

#263

Post by boudin » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 7:05 PM UTC

I miss being disconnected.

Before having constant access to internet or a phone, I had much more time to process my thought. I also had much more time throughout the day to think overall as there was much more situation when I had to wait a bit and no mobile phone to disrupt me. I'm trying to reclaim that, but I do miss that (and I think overall it's something that humans needs and are missing).

I also dislike Slack or similar tools for work, it makes the work day much more disrupted and it's hard to manage. I wish that there was a calorie counter on Slack where you need to burn some calories before having to disrupt someone. It would make people think twice before talking.

Finally I find the grab on technology from GAFAM sad. Things have been abstracted and ownership removed to the point that I fell more and more like a passive user rather than someone having fun hacking around. If I can't break it and fix it back, it feels like a piece of non interesting piece of junk to me. I become just a user, not an actor. I find everything they make just sad.

Re: Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life?

#264

Post by conductr » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 7:06 PM UTC

LEDs. Why does everything need to be lit?

I bought a toaster, now my kitchen glows. I bought a toothbrush, now my bathroom glows. Etc, etc. Why do manufacturers insist on making things always glow?

Re: Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life?

#265

Post by lxe » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 7:06 PM UTC

Touchscreens in cars. Please stop this.

Re: Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life?

#266

Post by duderific » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 7:07 PM UTC

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #89

ok_dad wrote: post #4

Advertising. I know this is an extreme view, but I think any advertising other than a spec sheet style ad (just facts) should be banned. I feel like it steals your attention and mindshare day after day. The ads I see on TV now (rarely, as I don't watch live TV much) are just so horrible. Dripping with emotions and trying to tug on your heartstrings to sell some toilet bowl cleaner or some other garbage. Social media.…

I bet you'll love these before-and-after photos of Sao Paolo after their outdoor advertising ban: https://99percentinvisible.org/article/clean-city-law-secret... Anti-advertising was one of the pet causes of Generation X, back before more pressing things like "the war on terror" and a financial collapse and health care crisis took the stage. And those are bigger deals, but man, advertising is just awful too.

If you happen to live in or visit the SF Bay Area, and drive on the 280 freeway between San Jose and San Francisco, you'll notice it feels a bit...odd. That's because billboards are banned along that stretch [1], and all you see is the beautiful green rolling hills.

[1] https://www.kqed.org/news/11805469/why-arent-any-billboards-...

Re: Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life?

#267

Post by larrydag » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 7:07 PM UTC

ok_dad wrote: post #4

Advertising. I know this is an extreme view, but I think any advertising other than a spec sheet style ad (just facts) should be banned. I feel like it steals your attention and mindshare day after day. The ads I see on TV now (rarely, as I don't watch live TV much) are just so horrible. Dripping with emotions and trying to tug on your heartstrings to sell some toilet bowl cleaner or some other garbage. Social media.…

yup. We should be able to opt-in instead of having to opt-out of the slew of digital ads we see daily.

Re: Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life?

#268

Post by hollerith » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 7:08 PM UTC

conductr wrote: post #264

LEDs. Why does everything need to be lit? I bought a toaster, now my kitchen glows. I bought a toothbrush, now my bathroom glows. Etc, etc. Why do manufacturers insist on making things always glow?

Especially blue LEDs.

Re: Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life?

#269

Post by silksowed » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 7:08 PM UTC

dkdk8283 wrote: post #79

ryandrake wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do-Not-Disturb mode on all your devices, 24/7. It stops all notifications, messages, dinging, buzzing, phone calls, everything. Huge, instant, and permanent quality of life improvement. I've been doing it for a few years, now, and I could never go back to life with my phone dinging and lighting up like Reno ever few minutes. A lot of people think they can't do it (OMG what if I miss that one important call out of tho…

I’m militant about disabling notifications. My phone is on silent 24x7 except for certain contacts that bypass DnD. I’ll get to it when I get to it.

did not know i can bypass select contacts through DnD. this will help greatly

Re: Ask HN: What things has tech made worse in your life?

#270

Post by rg111 » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 7:08 PM UTC

math_denial wrote: post #95

rg111 wrote: post #83

Learning. From my childhood, I have always loved to learn new stuff- all kinds of interesting stuff. Before, when I became interested in something, I looked it up on the net, read books, and asked people about resources. But with "feed"s, everything went downhill very quickly. When more and more resources became available, I struggled to keep up with them. There were not only too many resources I came to know about o…

Thank you for summarizing years of inquietude. I thought that I might have ADHD, but my "symptoms" started when I realized that I could never catch up to all the information that the Internet is presenting me daily. I wish I had a solution to let it all go. Anyone?

I also started thinking if I had ADHD, but I still have one good habit surviving from single-digit age- reading books.

Despite everything, I manage to read 25-30 books each year.

And these books are always either very long novels or non-trivial, high-quality non-fiction.

I also manage to get immediate works done through time-blocking, and pomodoro (don't need pomodoro for stuff I really like).

But these techniques don't save you from being "reactive"- doing stuff that is needed right in the moment, and nothing else- behaving like primitive animals.

I can get hard, intensive work done, read books, learn hard concepts, but still lack very seriously in long-term action-taking (used to be good at this before).

Trying to solve these.