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Why do you waste so much time on the internet?

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Re: Why do you waste so much time on the internet?

#601

Post by imperistan »

asddubs wrote: post #594
spir wrote: post #29

I am addicted to twitter and reddit. Especially reddit. It often takes the place of reading, hobbies, quiet moments, improving my home, talking with my spouse, and playing with my baby. When reddit records a click or an upvote, it thinks it has been a Good Product, and created Engagement. Reddit then takes those feedback loops and tunes the algorithm and feedback loops to create further engagement. But in reality, th…

I weaned myself off reddit by blocking everything except i.reddit.com in my hosts file. if i blocked everything, inevitably there would be some post that I'd need to read because i stumbled upon it on google or what have you. Now, if I really want to read a reddit post, I can. but half of the links break unless you manually change the url to include the "i." subdomain again, the interface isn't so great, but I can ac…

I totally blocked Reddit in my hosts file. If I really need a post work purposes I go to Google translate, load the post and click 'see original'. Such a hassle that I hardly ever do it. YMMV.

I think its funny that we both stumbled on a similar approach

Re: Why do you waste so much time on the internet?

#602

Post by dazc »

squishy47 wrote: post #598
zhdc1 wrote: post #573

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Loneliness I had to read through your comment a couple of times. From the sound of it, you’re likely in a better position than many other people here, and what worries you isn’t the lack of social contact but the depth and quality of it. This is a common issue that a lot or even most people face as they get older. I think that a lot of us have been able to fill this gap by finding significant others and starting fa…

i think i fair ammount of it is that it's difficult to do things spontaniously anymore. when i was little, my parents friends just used to show up and see what was going on, hang out, have a drink, whatever. and i think this kinda builds that friendship, as it's the random shit ppl do together that builds the bond (best example is the Friends tv show) or when you're a teen and there's nothing to do so you just hang o…

Just showing up is something that has definitely gone out of fashion. I have family I barely see because meeting up requires advanced notice. Even then it feels like an inconvenience, hence, other than weddings and funerals, I don't bother.

Re: Why do you waste so much time on the internet?

#603

Post by dazc »

darkerside wrote: post #371
chrsig wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of incredibly frustrating, problematic, and exasperating opinions and personality types to be found on HN. The particular members of any of those sets will differ based on the eyes of the beholder. There's no shortage of passive aggression, angst, oneupsmanship,virtue signaling, dogwhistling, etc. It just so happens that there's a sufficient about of incredibly useful opinions and comments from subjec…

I find HN with its moderation to be night and day difference from many other forums.

Most rely on volunteer moderators who also happen to be active members. The two roles are not exactly compatible.

Re: Why do you waste so much time on the internet?

#604

Post by dazc »

jansan wrote: post #63
psyc wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m the same, and I’ve been struggling with it for a couple of years. I’ve even addressed it in therapy, and it hasn’t helped. The only thing that has helped at all is a site blocker. Twitter and HN mostly fill me with frustration, loathing, and angst. Like the cigarettes I smoke fill me with tar and carcinogens. Reddit at least I occasionally find something interesting, due to carefully curated subs. It’s just addic…

Site blocking helps. For about two weeks. I do not even remember why I removed twitter again from my router's blacklist.

A moment of madness, perhaps?

Re: Why do you waste so much time on the internet?

#605

Post by dazc »

haliskerbas wrote: post #59
Apreche wrote: post #17

Just speaking for myself, I've noticed that my habit is to eat what is in front of me, and clean my plate. I mean this both literally and figuratively. If I have dessert in the house, like a bag of chocolate, then I eat one after dinner. If I don't have it in the house, then I just don't eat dessert. If I have a social media feed full of content, then I'll scroll through all of it until there's nothing else that's ne…

Thought this was just me and it’s so refreshing to hear. I can never eat just part of a bag of chips. Or save the really good sandwhich for later. Or not drink another coffee because I already had one. Etc. etc Do lots of other folks experience this? I seem to only have self control when it hurts my job or income, and even then, barely.

I think it's a common problem.

My default method of weight control is not to have unhealty food and alcohol in the house except for weekends. In the office I only have healthy food available. It works and I have gotten used to it - mainly because my anything goes weekends act as a great pressure release valve.

Re: Why do you waste so much time on the internet?

#606

Post by neetle »

asdff wrote: post #527
bvinc wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone else replying to you is trying to convince you with arguments that reddit isn't a good use of your time. As you already know, this won't work. You're already convinced. The only thing that works is a site blocker. It actually works. Convince yourself that the block is permanent. Delete the app. This of course won't completely stop you, because you could always unblock yourself. But it'll stop you from mindle…

If you can't control your reddit consumption already I'd expect that the site blocker will end up disabled before long. I'd try to involve a therapist if the goal is getting to the bottom of this beyond even reddit or websites in general.

Sometimes a simple "pattern interrupt" can break the cycle. If you've a habit of opening the page whenever you hop on your phone, that extra effort may be enough to push back against the potential incentive

Anecdotally, a lot of digital addictions come down to ease of access vs dopamine hit. As soon as your access method is "futz with a hosts file" or "ask your wife to unlock the blocker" (I was pretty bad), it becomes easier to break the cycle.

More people need to utilise their tendency toward lazyness, I swear

Re: Why do you waste so much time on the internet?

#607

Post by secondcoming »

smeej wrote: post #99

I had to reach a point where I admitted to myself that, as much as I may wish I were a person who could handle having a smartphone in my pocket, I'm not. If I have one there, it will suck up time I don't want to give it. I tried putting all kinds of guides in place until I just...got a flip phone that, yeah, can run Android apps, but absolutely sucks to use. It doesn't have a touch screen, so I have to navigate with…

T9 was great. Back in the day, I and others could send SMS messages without ever taking the phone out of our pockets; purely from muscle memory.

Re: Why do you waste so much time on the internet?

#608

Post by rr808 »

spir wrote: post #29

I am addicted to twitter and reddit. Especially reddit. It often takes the place of reading, hobbies, quiet moments, improving my home, talking with my spouse, and playing with my baby. When reddit records a click or an upvote, it thinks it has been a Good Product, and created Engagement. Reddit then takes those feedback loops and tunes the algorithm and feedback loops to create further engagement. But in reality, th…

I'm addicted to reddit too. But before that I was addicted to newsgroups and other web forums. I dont think I can blame Reddit app, I think I just love talking with people online. What I've learned is that most people really dont care about my opinion. I now only comment on stuff that I have something useful to bring, and its a topic that is really relevant to the board/thread. Those rules can cut back commenting a lot.

Re: Why do you waste so much time on the internet?

#609

Post by rr808 »

n_ary wrote: post #557

Loneliness. We don't have meaningful social connections anymore like our parents or their parents geeration had. We are so scattered, that I am unsure how many of my friends are actually friends and how many are just professional contacts. Everytime I switch job, almost 70% of my friends suddenly fall out of contact. Heck, I don't even know the people who live in next apartments both left, right, up and down on the s…

I think its a good time to take the initiative and invite a neighbor around for dinner or even dessert one night. I'm not sure why Parents and Grandparents were better at this but the younger generation maybe isn't as good at realizing social interaction is important and you have to initiate at least 50% of the time.

Re: Why do you waste so much time on the internet?

#610

Post by bigthymer »

santa_boy wrote: post #461
synergy20 wrote: post #456

811 points 428 comments so far and staying at the top at HN for a full day, that alone explains "why do you waste so much time on the internet?" :) I spent about two hours online daily for job-unrelated stuff, on average: 30 minutes youtube, 30 minutes twitter, 30 minutes HN, and 30 minutes email/general news etc. Half of the time is wasted. As software developer we're trying to optimize our code for the CPU all the…

Seriously! Now, I will end up spending 3 hrs trying to figure out why `807 points and 426 comments` for such a trivial and common experience!

It is one of those experiences people ruminate about on their own about but this post has given us an opportunity to talk about it with others that experience the same.
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