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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?

#641

Post by otikik »

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 logged off from Twitter and Reddit and blocked it with Leechblock NG [1] on my computer. That took care of 50% of the problem. I would still browse them on my phone.

When I switched phones I decided to not install Twitter or Reddit on the new one for a week.

After getting over some FOMO on the first week, I decided to extend it for 1 month.

I have been "clean" for ~7 months now. Except for the occasional direct link from my mobile phone, and fortunately thanks to the ingrate mobile experience their webs provide, I will probably keep doing this for a while.

I find other ways to distract myself, though (other websites, doing random queries in google, etc). I am working on the underlying problems I have. But for me getting the distractions out of the way first was easier than the alternative.

[1] https://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/

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

#642

Post by grappler »

ineedasername wrote: post #393
grappler wrote: post #390

I set a points threshold on what hacker news stories I see. This article broke through that threshold even though it is not worth my time, so the thing I'm going to do immediately after posting this comment is raise the threshold some more. That's the action that should always follow, any time something gets through the filter. Make the filter more restrictive. Over time, that should clear out the low value things.

Out of curiosity, what's your threshold?

It's now 700 points

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

#643

Post by vorpalhex »

blacksmithgu wrote: post #342
vorpalhex wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would encourage you to not think of this in an addiction framework. Instead think of this as a self medicating framework. Why are you choosing reddit over spending time your baby? Do you fear handling the baby? Does handling the baby make you feel uncomfortable thoughts or feelings? Is there something, like ego, that reddit gives you? This is a good problem for self journaling, working with someone, or whatever you…

Chronic media consumption is not always based on avoidance. It is very easy to open social media during genuine downtime "for 5 minutes" only for an hour to pass before you know it. That is just bad self control due to dopamine addiction.

Dopamine addiction isn't a real thing. You don't get addicted to going for a jog or eating chocolate.

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

#644

Post by vorpalhex »

Llamamoe wrote: post #558
vorpalhex wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would encourage you to not think of this in an addiction framework. Instead think of this as a self medicating framework. Why are you choosing reddit over spending time your baby? Do you fear handling the baby? Does handling the baby make you feel uncomfortable thoughts or feelings? Is there something, like ego, that reddit gives you? This is a good problem for self journaling, working with someone, or whatever you…

It gives a constant stream of novelty and instant gratification, two things the human mind is deeply biased to crave, delivered through an interface produced by decades of A/B testing and applied behavioral psychology. It absolutely is an addiction machine.

Is chocolate an addiction machine?

It tastes good. People really like it. Given the choice between rice cakes and chocolate, you'd probably choose chocolate. Chocolate manufacturers test chocolates and release the more successful ones.

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

#645

Post by hussainbilal »

hawksprite wrote: post #176
hussainbilal wrote: post #165

It sounds like their habits are influenced by your environment. Just tie the habit to a new productive habit. Make it work for you. Example 1: start learning a new natural language, and also switch all your social media feeds to only provide content in that language. You'll either lose interest in learning the language and start withdrawing from social media, or your unbreakable habit will sustain your new language l…

This sounds like a methodology I’d like to try. I’ve not heard of it before. Do you have any suggested Haitian musicians or artists? Thank you for sharing.

You've probably heard of this: atomic habits.

The idea of an atomic habit is that there is no disconnect between a habit and the objective you're aiming for. So in this case, the habit was not to learn a new language, but just consistently and constantly engaging with French. When I hit a wall, I doubled down my atomic habit to a simpler macro-french where all my past knowledge would still be applicable due to the etymology heavily influenced from french colonization.

I have no suggestion for artists, because the point is to pickup phonetics under variation. If you listen to the same artist, you're only picking up their way of speaking.

i.e. I'm guilty of playing dubmatique and maitre-gims on loop. Did nothing for improving my ability to parse a spoken french sentence in real-time. I just ended up memorizing the lyrics.

I suggest listening to pop music on shuffle, even if it's not your cup of tea. Pop music is usually very good with enunciating words. Additionally in my experience, pop music lyrics align really well with a language's IDF.

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

#646

Post by jhugo »

whomst wrote: post #639
jhugo wrote: post #589

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the 10~20% that is very high quality is worth it. The link to something interesting that starts a meaningful, nuanced discussion that often includes people close to the topic at hand. I've never seen that kind of content on other social media.

There are meaningful things on other social media that make them Pareto distributed too and I disagree that the SNR of HN is higher than elsewhere

Well, that's the point of my comment - HN to me has much higher SNR. Would love to learn how to find the meaningful things on other social media without scrolling through the 99.9% of noise.

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

#647

Post by guerrilla »

comboy wrote: post #640
guerrilla wrote: post #616

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You spend time on doing heroin because you want to. It seems unproductive to tell yourself that you don't.

Yes. We are always doing what we want to. Perhaps I should have added "given restrictions of reality"? I mean you can have diarrhea and be currently shitting your pants. And you may not want to do that. Seems like a stronger argument than equaling heroin to reddit. But in both cases your options are limited. From those, you choose what you want. And you are then doing what you want to do (with or without telling your…

It seems that you may be unfamiliar with the concept of compulsion. All you've done is water down the word "want" to meaninglessness and uselessness. It distinguishes nothing in your theory.

> As far as I understand it, a heroin addict, at times when he's not craving and has some choice, has a choice to continue doing it or to go through hell and then some.

No, not at all. I think your understanding depends strongly on your ignorance on that subject.

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

#648

Post by eternityforest »

Well, I live in Montana and I don't drive. There are busses, but they stop at 6PM, so I'm not sure where I would go, until I get a job that isn't remote, unless I suddenly developed an interest in going out to eat. But tech jobs here are mostly multi-location and require a car.

I leave the house maybe 1/5th as much as I did in Seattle, and I don't really have many other ideas besides wasting time online.

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

#649

Post by Metalbourne »

nebulous_two wrote: post #376
tlokas wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is my experience too. But it might be something that is subjectively felt, and people then attributed it to be something that depletes. Even if the depletion is invalidated, the subjective feeling might however still be valid. --- If I should suggest another possibility on the spot, I would suggest mental fatigue. You get tired of denying yourself things the same way you get tired of denying your kid pestering y…

It might be worth thinking about what it is that is being depleted, exactly. When I "run out of willpower" it doesn't really feel the same as when I "simply cannot do it anymore". If I lift a weight enough times, eventually I simply can't anymore, no matter how much I will it. It's not a decision, like a decision to stop working on a problem. That would be a lack of willpower to continue...? Is there really a mental…

Believe it or not, even something like physical exertion has hard-to-define limitations. The amount of reps that you can do of an exercise is more based on how forcefully your brain drives your nerves to activate your muscles and keep going. If you have a habit of sticking to sets of 10 reps, odds are you will feel exhausted at 10 reps, and this is because once you hit your magic goal, you're no longer applying the same concentrated mental energy, and you suddenly feel tired and stop there. But if you did that set like as if it were the last set of your life, or like you were at the olympics trying to break records, you'd be able to push 15 or 20 reps, rather than just the 10 that you do as your comfortable limit. You have the physical ability to keep doing something until the moment that your muscles lock up from lactic acid buildup and you just drop. But people rarely ever reach that state. They stop much sooner because pushing further requires more concentrated brain input which they don't want to dedicate. Maintaining your current routine is effortless, and we tend to favor the easy, comfortable. Pushing your limits is uncomfortable, and in a world where we have become so accustomed to prioritizing indulgence and comfort it becomes hard to break out of our safe zones.

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

#650

Post by Metalbourne »

riekus wrote: post #285
thoughtpeddler wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% this. People often ask me "How do you stick with keto? It's such a strict diet." I always answer: "It's actually one of the easiest diets: the answer to most 'can I eat this?' question is 'no'." There isn't a persistently high cognitive load on deciding what you can eat, once you master the foundational knowledge of eating low-carb.

I really want to follow it, but what about the bad breath?! It's definitely a thing, you can smell when people are in ketosis

That usually happens because people use stimulants to accelerate energy burn and it dries you out, and when your body, especially your mouth, get dry, you will get bad breath immediately. If you want to test this out for yourself, try brushing your teeth while you feel very dehydrated. Your breath will smell bad soon after.
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