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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

#251

Post by M4v3R »

herval wrote: post #33
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 could seriously be a good commercial product!

While it's not exactly the same, there's an app called "Self Control" on macOS that blocks selected websites for chosen amount of time, and after it is engaged it is virtually impossible for you to disable the block until the timer runs out. I use it a lot.

[0] https://selfcontrolapp.com

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#252

Post by phs318u »

mastazi wrote: post #192
lrvick wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Out of interest, which Linux phone did you try?

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#253

Post by k8sToGo »

onion2k wrote: post #242
resonious wrote: post #76

Lately I've become convinced that video games and social media are in the same class as drugs and alcohol. They're a pretty fun way to kill time, but some people are predisposed to doing too much, and too much is dangerous. Also similar to drugs/alcohol: it seems to affect some people more than others. I know people who can check FB/TikTok for a couple minutes and then they're done, and I also know people who continu…

I will never understand how people moralize behaviours rather than outcomes. Drinking every night is fine if you don't do it to excess. A beer or two, or a glass of wine with dinner, or a nightcap, doesn't hurt anyone. Drinking every night to the level where you're damaging your health is a problem. Having a few beers a couple of times a month is great. Binge drinking a couple of times a month to the point where you…

First of all, drinking alcohol every day is too much if you count your alcohol units.

Second, first you start with a drink every week, then every day, then every hour,... that is how you develop your addiction.

Third, what you suggest is moderation drinking. People who are addicted to alcohol argue that it does not work and complete abstinence is the way to go.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#254

Post by pjerem »

Tistron wrote: post #243
askura wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About to turn 34 and still with the same poor mental focusing of 14 year old me :/

I'm 40, so when I was a teenager the internet did not have so much different distractions. My mind was great at focusing. I'd read books, cover to cover, and tune out everything else. I'd sit hours and hours straight and make websites for IE4. today I struggle to read a chapter in a book without getting distracted. It's pretty disheartening to notice. I'm much better at other things, but I wish I could still read lik…

> I think the worst ones for me right now are YouTube and hacker news.

Same thing.

If anything, any strategy I tried just made me replace awful content with more quality content.

But you can still be addicted to "good" content. And it’s harder to block because the FOMO is harder with sites like HN and interesting YouTube content.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#255

Post by sandermvanvliet »

LAC-Tech wrote: post #203
lrvick wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I mean you can doom scroll on a desktop or laptop machine as well.

Interestingly I find that while you can doom scroll on a laptop for me it doesn’t “work”. Perhaps because my laptop is work territory (both actual work and hobby) so I automatically don’t doom scroll there or maybe it’s just that lots of content is optimised for mobile and the experience is “better”.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#256

Post by k8sToGo »

vedtopkar wrote: post #3

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.

Whenever I am addicted to a service, I just block it on DNS level. This is enough for me to stop opening a website in the browser automatically.

Whenever I am thinking of redownloading it, I think about why I deleted it in the first place.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#257

Post by rkhassen9 »

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…

Wmitty I've dreamed of this. Any chance you want to sell the setup?

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#258

Post by Out_of_Characte »

f1refly wrote: post #250
onion2k wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will never understand how people moralize behaviours rather than outcomes. Drinking every night is fine if you don't do it to excess. A beer or two, or a glass of wine with dinner, or a nightcap, doesn't hurt anyone. Drinking every night to the level where you're damaging your health is a problem. Having a few beers a couple of times a month is great. Binge drinking a couple of times a month to the point where you…

Two beers a day is very, very dangerous according to my girlfriend, a social worker.

All I can say is that mindset is more important than amount consumed. Just look at depressed people drinking, a single beer already makes the person more likely to become an alcoholic. yet two or thee beers every evening wouldn't suddenly create an alcoholic out of me.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#259

Post by onion2k »

f1refly wrote: post #250
onion2k wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will never understand how people moralize behaviours rather than outcomes. Drinking every night is fine if you don't do it to excess. A beer or two, or a glass of wine with dinner, or a nightcap, doesn't hurt anyone. Drinking every night to the level where you're damaging your health is a problem. Having a few beers a couple of times a month is great. Binge drinking a couple of times a month to the point where you…

Two beers a day is very, very dangerous according to my girlfriend, a social worker.

My partner is a therapist and strongly advocates having a glass of wine with dinner most nights.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#260

Post by thebradbain »

me_me_mu_mu wrote: post #230
trutannus wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Having to work multiple jobs to keep a roof over your head, massive inflation, burnout from everything, covid spikes recently So the consequences of inept, corrupt, and broken governmental systems basically.

In many cases, people voted for it.

And in many cases, those votes don’t have a direct impact one way or the other on those broken systems.

In the US, it’s pretty clear now that both parties will keep the private health insurance racket intact (and tied to an employer), education costs will increase and student debt won’t be forgiven, retirement age will increase and social security will remain underfunded, climate change will at most be paid only lip service, military+police funding will increase over any meaningful social programs, the minimum wage will not keep up with cost of living, we will continue to incarcerate rather than rehabilitate, national debt will continue to increase even though none of the above is being meaningfully addressed…

Yes, I’m painting with a very broad brush, but you can probably see why a very large contingent of younger people would be discontent with the state of the world — even if you personally believe these aren’t the government’s issues to fix (or even if you think they’re not issues at all).

Sure, we have two different parties to choose from (once in a blue moon, sometimes a viable third). There’s still a large contingent of 18+ millennials today, even among those who do vote, who are asking: what are we even voting for?

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