171–180 of 383 posts
I mean, yes, I mostly read things online nowadays, but... I'm still reading, it's just on the computer now.
this is what i was thinking, i think it depends on the demographic but overall i heard that reading rates are way higher now due to the internet’s text content. granted reading books are great but i mostly read those online as well or audiobooks in the car
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I had the same experience but my problem was from the sheer amount of games being released. I couldn’t pick one, became overwhelmed and then lost the drive to try something. So I stopped worrying about the reviews, about length about all the details behind a game. I check out Steam 250 or SteamDB charts, pick one out and just try it. I have no expectations going in, and I’m happy to drop it if I don’t find it enjoyab…
Nah, doesn't work for me. I know the games I like; they are all old and I know I love them. I don't follow the news on new games at all. I simply can't concentrate on the games I like for more than 15 minutes. I get distracted, I alt-tab out all the time, and eventually I close them. It's the same with movies or books. It takes a superhuman effort for me to sit still and watch a movie. If anybody has any recommendati…
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I kinda feel like we were trained to be maximally receptive in an era when information was just recently proven to be the most valuable thing, but also was still kinda rare. And then they just fucking dropped the information hose into our livingrooms and... now I'm blinded.
I think information is no longer the most valuable thing. Attention is. That said, I too am struggling. The dopamine response to new content is addictive, and I rarely keep the promise to myself to go back and extract the substance from the resources I discover.
But some types of good information are very valuable too. Surely it's available somewhere today, but finding it can sometimes be very difficult.
Internet is the new boogeyman. TV used to be it. Radio was it one time. Hell, _novels_ were treated this way. The one thing they all have in common is being new behavior patterns that people can worry and kvetch about.
This seemed weird to me until I figured out how few books my parents actually read.
This thread is full of social media as a generation-destroying boogieman, but nobody seems to consider how much more common youth alcoholism was 20+ years ago or how much of our parents' lives was spent in front of the TV.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilhowe/2017/01/16/millennials...
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I used to read books all the time. I spent most of my waking hours as a teenager reading books. I’m 35 now and can barely hold attention on anything, I read maybe 3 books a year if I’m lucky. Even on Hacker News I almost exclusively read and comment on the comments, not the actual article unless I see someone says “have you read the article?” I don’t really know why. I have 8+ hours a day screentime on my iPhone, whi…
You might be interested in the book „dopamine nation“
The book «explores how to moderate compulsive overconsumption in a dopamine-overloaded world».
> Anna Lembke is professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. ... She sits on the board of several state and national addiction-focused organizations
> In Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke ... explores the exciting new scientific discoveries that explain why the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to pain... and what to do about it. Condensing complex neuroscience into easy-to-understand metaphors, Lembke illustrates how finding contentment and connectedness means keeping dopamine in check
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I am curious about how and how much discipline overrides the practical need for this theoretical field.
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I'm the same way. As a teen I'd sit down with a several hundred page book and spend an entire day reading the whole thing. These days I spend my spare time on reddit/HN or gaming (which I did in my teen years as well). Much less reading, although I aspire to read more and have a long backlog on my Kindle. Maybe I'll commit to reading an hour a day or something. I certainly have the free time. In fact, I'll start now.…
These days, I can't even concentrate in games or media such as movies. I wish I could, because I remember having lots of fun playing games. Oh well.
If your work is boring and unchallenging or if you have as much free time as students or kids, concentrated hobbies makes massive sense.
Internet is the new boogeyman. TV used to be it. Radio was it one time. Hell, _novels_ were treated this way. The one thing they all have in common is being new behavior patterns that people can worry and kvetch about.
Actual data points at millenials and zoomers actually reading more books than other generations [1]. This seemed weird to me until I figured out how few books my parents actually read. This thread is full of social media as a generation-destroying boogieman, but nobody seems to consider how much more common youth alcoholism was 20+ years ago or how much of our parents' lives was spent in front of the TV. [1] https://…
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None of those things have the addictive and distraction power of the Internet. Along with the Internet has come ubiquitous things like laptops, tablets, and cellphones. It is an actual problem, not one for people to merely "worry and kvetch about".
Wasn't TV viewed in the same light? I imagine a large segment of humanity has always looked for addictions.
Millennials and especially Gen Z are thought to have higher rates of depression and anxiety than previous generations. I would be very surprised if social media weren’t a factor. Despite making a career in tech I believe some of what we’re doing is very harmful to culture, mental and physical health, the environment, and democracy. At some point I would like to focus on mitigating these problems.
Do they have higher rates, or better access to information, introspection, tools, awareness, and common understanding of these things? I am curious about that.
HN represents a wellspring of deeper reading than is generally afforded by the current entertainment cruft portals of the web - reddit, FB, insta, USA today, financial times, etc etc down to the SEO hellholes of recipe sites, youtube product placement; you get the idea. Let's appreciate HN for the quality of reading material and its curb on our drift to the rest of the 'popular' web. And I don't think I'm alone in al…
> HN represents a wellspring of deeper reading than is generally afforded by the current entertainment cruft portals of the web - reddit, FB, insta, USA today, financial times, etc etc down to the SEO hellholes of recipe sites, youtube product placement; you get the idea. HN _thinks_ it represents a wellspring of deeper reading just like every other site mentioned also thinks. Same as the others it is a shallow echo…
As far as books go, I read every night and usually bounce between entertainment and usefulness.