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My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

alexanderell.is

41–50 of 459 posts

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#41
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This could seriously be a good commercial product!

Hey, don't beat me to the punch! I thought about it right after posting too, that might have to be my next side project.

Yea I'd buy this

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#42

I'm still young so maybe my mind hasn't matured enough to where I can combat this well. So I went heavy-handed - I have a button on my desk that when I press it, my server's DNS server (through which all my devices and router resolve) begins rejecting requests to reddit, instagram, twitter, hackernews, news.google.com, etc. For the next two hours, there is nothing I can do outside of SSH'ing through my mobile device…

Couldn't you just disconnect from wi-fi on your phone and access everything via cellular?

The DNS server is set in my phone as well. But even if it wasn't, I live in a third-world country that still has crude data caps (the United States) so consuming video would probably quickly approach it.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#43
post #26

On the other hand, why does every shopping, manufacturer, parts supplier, etc. Have to paginate everything? That only makes sense if you are trying to increase page views with ads. It is frustrating to have to click next, re load all the background clutter, sometimes every ten items.

There are multiple browser extensions for generic infinite scroll, like AutoPagerize, AutoPatchWork etc. so...

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#44

It’s honestly so bad. No matter how hard I try, I find myself re-downloading TikTok or Reddit (Apollo) every month and then wasting away all my free time for a week or two before re-deleting them out of disgust. I truly don’t know what the solution is. I would just get rid of my smartphone if life wasn’t quite inconvenient without it.

Read books I'm not joking, it's the best antidote to the thought-theft of "social media". Pick a subject in which you're interested, find a representively excellent text, and read. And then re-read, because unless you're a genius you won't absorb everything first time. Also it's wonderful to just curl up with a book and a cup of tea and let time pass you by as you ... learn the considered thought of others! This is c…

I would love to do this, but years of mindlessly browsing social media has seriously shortened my attention span. I used to read books all the time. I remember staying up late as a kid just to read the new Harry Potter book.

Nowadays I pick up a book, read a few pages, then immediately lose interest and go do something else. Anybody know how to get back into reading?

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#45

I'm still young so maybe my mind hasn't matured enough to where I can combat this well. So I went heavy-handed - I have a button on my desk that when I press it, my server's DNS server (through which all my devices and router resolve) begins rejecting requests to reddit, instagram, twitter, hackernews, news.google.com, etc. For the next two hours, there is nothing I can do outside of SSH'ing through my mobile device…

What do you use for the button?

A small push button attached to a Raspberry Pi. It runs a bash script that sends the network request to my AdGuard Home server, adding a list of domains to the blocklist. After two hours, it undoes the changes.

I usually review the DNS requests in the two hours after, to look for other time-suckers, and have since added every single non-productivity-related website to the blocklist. Apparently I compulsively check the weather dozens of times whenever I can't access my normal procrastination sites.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#46
post #26

On the other hand, why does every shopping, manufacturer, parts supplier, etc. Have to paginate everything? That only makes sense if you are trying to increase page views with ads. It is frustrating to have to click next, re load all the background clutter, sometimes every ten items.

I've always wondered if this has something to do with instilling a feeling of artificial scarcity.

Or just offload their servers cause infinite scroll makes the process of loading additional pages mindlessly faster and much less cumbersome.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#47
post #16

I've removed everything with this from my life. Everyone knows how bad it is now, there's no excuse.

> Everyone knows how bad it is now, there's no excuse. I disagree. Ask any 20-30 year old and I don't think many will say that TikTok, Instagram, etc is "harmful to your health". Maybe a "bit addictive", maybe a few people who say "I have a problem with it". But never "I know this is very harmful for my attention span, my mental health, etc".

By "everyone" I really meant people building things. IE: If someone builds something with infinite scrolling that's like putting caffeine/alcohol/cocaine in a drink.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#48
I've reached the stage where I no longer even enjoy social media consumption, I'm just doing it out of habit. I feel like a heroin user who no longer gets high and just uses it to feel normal.

And I'm not even talking about the usual social media ratholes. I pretty much bounce between HN and NYT at this point. And I feel close to dropping even those two entirely, out of sheer boredom. Because on the bright side, it's probably a lot easier to quit than heroin.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#49
post #32

It’s honestly so bad. No matter how hard I try, I find myself re-downloading TikTok or Reddit (Apollo) every month and then wasting away all my free time for a week or two before re-deleting them out of disgust. I truly don’t know what the solution is. I would just get rid of my smartphone if life wasn’t quite inconvenient without it.

I too do the same. I have deleted Reddit app about 5 times over the last year and deleted it 5 times.

It doesn't help that they now won't even let you read many subreddits without the app on mobile.

Once you're logged in, just to read that one thing, it can't hurt to engage on that one issue, can it?

Before you know it, you're 23 increasingly angry comments into a thread about sand, people are still wrong on the internet, it's 3am and you hate everyone, everything and yourself.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#50
post #6

A very hacky solution that I've found to combat TikTok's infinite feed is to scroll up instead. I skip to the 20-th video in the feed, watch each video, and then exit once I'm done with the 20. Hitting the top gives you an off-ramp to get out of the app.

This is genius, definitely going to give this a try.
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