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My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

alexanderell.is

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Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#191

Post by OneLeggedCat »

hooande wrote: post #134
sodality2 wrote: post #24

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…

This is like saying "I cured my alcoholism by throwing all the liquor out of my house". The problem isn't the availability of the stimulus, it's the lack of control over your desire for it. You can't cure a need for distraction by blocking domains. There isn't a cure. You have to learn to live with it, like alcoholism. The good news is that major life events tend to be great for breaking the distraction seeking patte…

This is terrible advice for people with addiction. No mental health doctor would agree with you.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#192

Post by mastazi »

lrvick wrote: post #164
sodality2 wrote: post #24

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…

I just ditched my smartphone entirely. Humanity survived until the 00s without them. You can too.

Same here. I have an iPhone that I take with me maybe once a week, e.g. if I know I will need to call an Uber.

Exploring the option of getting a feature phone but do I really need to carry it?

I also tried a Linux phone but it wasn't very good in terms of usability and it soon became unusable due to hardware failure.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#193

Post by jdironman »

wmitty wrote: post #145
sodality2 wrote: post #24

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…

My (crude) version of the same thing requires that I go 1000 meters from my house to press the button to enable the DNS for another 30 min of browsing (button is on a custom phone app, distance measured using phone GPS). One feature that I want to implement is to have the system randomly enable for 10 minutes - and to signal this by changing the color of light from a desk lamp (Phillips Hue). The idea is that when th…

Seems like it would be ineffective while traveling. Unless you could configure it to be 1000 meters from current location! I'm interested in doing something like this. I've been playing way too much Elden Ring this week and I'd like to cut back in general on consumption of anything.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#194

Post by annie_muss »

LiquidPolymer wrote: post #111

I’m curious what the generational divide is for this. I’m 57, love tech and enjoy the positive side of the internet in limited doses. But I find most social media boring. There is incredible and AMAZING art, accidental moments, serious discussion and fascinating analysis of the world to be found online. But without grounding myself in genuine experience in the stinky, cruel real world of human interaction, nature, an…

I wonder if growing up with it changes things? I've been more or less addicted to the screen since I was in elementary school. It started with web forums, then other social media. I was concerned about it then and now. I distinctly remember abstaining from screens for a week when I was 11 to see what it was like.

In many ways social media is a reality these days. It's the main way you interact with your peers, form romantic relationships and so on.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#195

Post by irjustin »

snek_case wrote: post #170
irjustin wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> video games and social media are in the same class as drugs and alcohol. Disagreed - one key aspect of the latter is physical dependance where withdraws are potentially life threatening. It's similar sledge hammer approach to putting weed on class 1 or treating all wrong doings as 'sin'. They are not the same things, should not be thought as the same nor treated the same.

The concept of physical vs psychological dependence is kind of outdated, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EaiP31qWf0 I don't see anything wrong with talking about a video game or social media addiction. Of course it's nowhere near the same level of danger as a heroin addiction, but if it's counter-productive and there's the same kinds of behaviors involved, it can be a useful model. Just the same, you can be add…

> physical vs psychological dependence is kind of outdated

I wouldn't say outdated, but I do agree it is 100% up for debate.

Kurzgesagt did a really similar video[0] on addiction, but the basically walked it back from such a hard line stance in a correction/update video[1]. It's not so easy to tease apart the social vs the physical vs the pure mental.

> Just the same, you can be addicted to coffee. Caffeine is a drug.

Right, I think you're agreeing with me. That they have similar aspects, but to treat them the same - like putting caffine on Class 1 - would be insane.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdJAQZxJ6vY [1] https://youtu.be/JtUAAXe_0VI?t=224

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#196

Post by clircle »

llasse wrote: post #23

I even have this problem when just sitting in front of my laptop to look something up - I end up on completely different websites procrastinating a lot . Another behavioral hack was told to me by someone els: write down on a piece of paper what you want to look up/do on the computer before you sit down in front of it and check if you have done it as much as possible.

Switch to using chrome without ublock origin, and you’ll find the web experience to be so intolerable that you’ll only use it for what’s absolutely necessary.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#197

Post by dbalatero »

farmerstan wrote: post #171
lrvick wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just ditched my smartphone entirely. Humanity survived until the 00s without them. You can too.

Humanity survived without winter jackets until the Ice Age. Then all of humanity would have gone extinct without them.

Not sure that's the same thing.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#198

Post by Calavar »

snek_case wrote: post #170
irjustin wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> video games and social media are in the same class as drugs and alcohol. Disagreed - one key aspect of the latter is physical dependance where withdraws are potentially life threatening. It's similar sledge hammer approach to putting weed on class 1 or treating all wrong doings as 'sin'. They are not the same things, should not be thought as the same nor treated the same.

The concept of physical vs psychological dependence is kind of outdated, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EaiP31qWf0 I don't see anything wrong with talking about a video game or social media addiction. Of course it's nowhere near the same level of danger as a heroin addiction, but if it's counter-productive and there's the same kinds of behaviors involved, it can be a useful model. Just the same, you can be add…

> The concept of physical vs psychological dependence is kind of outdated, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EaiP31qWf0

You are conflating two terms here. Addiction (which is what the video is talking about here) is a set of behavioral patterns. I agree that the line between psychological and physiological in addiction is blurry. But addiction is not the same as dependence, which is about tolerance and withdrawal and is purely a physical phenomenon.

To give some examples, when a person misses work because they are drunk or when they spend their rent money on heroin, that is addiction. When a person has seizures because they haven't had a drink in two days, that's dependence.

I agree with GP, video games may be addictive but there is no physical dependence like there is with alcohol or, as you pointed out, even caffeine.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#200

Post by unexistential »

I feel exactly as the author feels, and it's heartening to see so many comments here talking about this problem. What baffles me is outside of HN and the occasional news story or opinion piece, people seem to be just unbothered. People (or at least my friend and acquaintance circle) seem to keep using these platforms, posting on and what the infinite scroll feeds them as if there's nothing out of the ordinary about it all.

I've tried sharing on my social media how I feel about it all in the past, but I stopped after I started feeling like most people don't have a problem with it. No one wants to be the person that demands the state of affairs should change just because it inconveniences them.

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