My /etc/hosts file on the machine I work on all day blocks 68k hosts 24/7. No social media sites at all except Twitter. No ads. Meanwhile, the Leechblock browser add-on stops me from using the few things I do otherwise (bits of Reddit, HN) allow between 09:00 and 17:00 which is not perfect but it's a start. Except ... I disable it a lot :(
What's the performance impact of such a large hosts file ?
You gain performance by blocking thousands of sockets opened, data transferred and processed.
Host lookup should be O(1) and entirely in memory, so I see zero issue perf. wise to begin with.
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…
Nothing to do with age, I'm afraid - I'm over 40, and far more scattered and subject to the lure of the endless internet than when I was 20. In my personal situation, my best hope is that it is mommy brain, and that I'll outgrow it as my kid gets further from infancy.
I'm a couple of years short of 40 and feel the same. But these infinite feeds simply didn't exist, or at least weren't nearly as prevalent and well tuned to hijack human psychology, when we were 20.
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…
Having a kid made my internet addiction 100% worse. When your free time only comes in brief, unpredictable snatches, and your smartphone is right there in your pocket and can be held while rocking a baby who can't quite sleep, guess what happens...
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…
> 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.
Very few drugs have life threatening withdrawal symptoms.
Alcohol does but you have to abuse it to an extreme degree to reach that level. Most people with issues around alcohol are a huge distance away from getting dangerous withdrawal symptoms.
We are in a state of war. Don't be lulled by a sense of ease - the stakes have never been higher. If you are not directing your attention, it is being directed for you. Infinite scroll is much more dangerous on phones than on computers. Your breath is den. Good luck.
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 think it's one of those nature/nurture things. Lizards brain conditioned to infinite scroll crave it more. If you grew up without it and have avoided training that part of the mind, then it's easier to avoid getting hooked. Humans seem to forget that we are always in the process of making ourselves. By choosing how we spend our time and effort today we are choosing the kinds of things we find more rewarding tomorro…
TikTok was so instantly compelling that I was scared away from further interaction with it, but Twitter is my weakness that I sometimes feel like I've conquered, but as soon as I allow myself back in to check my DMs...
Two drinks each night versus one is quite a difference. It's double the amount of alcohol! Current recommendation from the Netherlands Nutrition Centre: > It is advisable to refrain from drinking alcohol, or to consume at most one glass a day. This advice applies equally to men and women. > Moderate consumption of alcohol at one glass a day may reduce the chance of getting certain chronic diseases, but also raises th…
Two drinks each night versus one is quite a difference. It's double the amount of alcohol! 2 bottles of 5% abv beer has a little less alcohol than 1 normal sized glass of 13% abv red wine.
How are you calculating that? One standard 330ml bottle of beer at 5% has a little less alcohol than a standard pour (150ml) of 13% wine. As soon as you move to a pint or 500ml can of beer you go over it. This is why a glass of wine and a bottle of beer are taken as roughly equal in terms of alcohol content.
Infinite scrolling feels just like eating only pure sugar. It’s not quality food but really addictive. To fight this addiction physical blocking is one part of the solution. The other part is psychological and thus personal. What works for me and make me change might not me the same for you. That is why reading a book like Atomic Habits might help, but maybe you’ll need a few others to understand what needs to be cha…
> The answer was nothing. I learned nothing and got nothing from it. I actually now have the inverse issue : now that I blocked "pure sugar content", I consume a lot of more interesting content. Like, HN is interesting to read, I have only subscriptions I like on YT and I feel like they make me learn. I still watch/read a lot of shit but I've also found a lot of gems I'm glad I found. I'll read Atomics Habits since a…
Then it’s a matter of equilibrium I guess. Even if you love biking it’s harder to do it safely at night. So we « naturally » wait for sunlight.
When things we love are accessible at all times and this barrier is removed the equilibrium have to be imposed maybe by introducing other thing like, maybe, more social interactions, talking to people etc. Whatever fits in the cycle to maintain an equilibrium.
Nothing to do with age, I'm afraid - I'm over 40, and far more scattered and subject to the lure of the endless internet than when I was 20. In my personal situation, my best hope is that it is mommy brain, and that I'll outgrow it as my kid gets further from infancy.
I'm a couple of years short of 40 and feel the same. But these infinite feeds simply didn't exist, or at least weren't nearly as prevalent and well tuned to hijack human psychology, when we were 20.
I remember downloading and picking over the content of newsgroups in my mid-late teens and before that endlessly rolling through different TV stations.
My mind has always craved the distraction of the infinite scroll, it's just modern social media has perfected it.
Nothing to do with age, I'm afraid - I'm over 40, and far more scattered and subject to the lure of the endless internet than when I was 20. In my personal situation, my best hope is that it is mommy brain, and that I'll outgrow it as my kid gets further from infancy.
I'm a couple of years short of 40 and feel the same. But these infinite feeds simply didn't exist, or at least weren't nearly as prevalent and well tuned to hijack human psychology, when we were 20.
That's true. To really waste time on the internet, you had to go Googling or hit Slashdot.