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I'm an addict

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Re: I'm an addict

#261

Post by paskozdilar »

alfor wrote: post #253
paskozdilar wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There existed philosophies you've never heard of, that are dead, because they died with the people who've followed them. Is it just chance? Nope. Religion tends to bring people together, often making them much more powerful as a group. But to me, it's just not worth selling out. > I think this is a focus exclusive to "nu-Christian" Anglosphere denominations I don't think that is the case. John 14:6 says: “I am the…

But what is ’I’ in this sentence? Personally I see it a ’truth’ like in scientific truth and personal integrity. Imagine Jesus as the incarnation of the best possible person. I you where to try to based your actions in a similar way, what would you do? "No man comes to the Father but by me”: You won't be the best version of yourself by chasing any other things (fame, money, pleasure, etc) I too was disgusted by the f…

One thing I dislike about Christianity in particular is how malleable to interpretation it is, making any kind of discussion with a Christian tedious. No matter what part of Bible you try to argue with, a Christian will always be able to say: "But that's not the real meaning! The real meaning is [thing I pulled out of thin air]", rendering your words moot, without actually engaging in your argument at all.

I still can't figure out how to deal with it, which is why I usually refrain from arguing with religious people. Afterall, when it comes to the big questions (like, is there a god), neither one of us can bring anything to the table - it's impossible to know by definition. And since all religious teachings are based on the existence of a god, there is no way to convince anyone of anything without first proving the unprovable. It's like two completely different sets of axioms - of course the conclusions are gonna be different, and the concept of axioms being "right" or "wrong" is meaningless by itself.

Re: I'm an addict

#262

Post by FrankyHollywood »

natly wrote: post #16

I used to be like this. I solved it by making my default activity reading (anything, stop if you don't enjoy it, novels are great) and working out. Just getting a week or month break is sometimes enough to break the habit (but best to do it in a way doesn't feel like an endurance challenge - that replaces it with something else fun or stimulating).

yes, that and go to sleep the moment you get the urge to eat lots of sugars, which usually means your brain needs rest.

Re: I'm an addict

#263

Post by galangalalgol »

Ryoung27 wrote: post #204
supernihil wrote: post #160

I dont like the idea of replacing the time spend compulsively procrastinating with "learning a new language, getting a pet, going to the gym" is the right way. I see the root cause (for me atleast (used to read HN and blogs for 4 hours everyday)) is that i cant stand being with myself. During the last two months ive been trying to not panic when i'm idle. And not take out my phone or read the nearest material i can l…

I agree with you on not liking the idea of changing your time sinks. I ran into a similar problem as your's with Reddit, and realized it was because I did not really like my self. Somewhere along the way I realized I had not day dreamed or used my imagination for a long time because it was so easy to "read the nearest material I can lay my hands on". To add to your advice I would suggest to try to find out who you ar…

But what if being in the moment at one with yourself and your environment is an addiction for you as well? I spent years in the trap he describes. Binging passive eacapes like YouTube Netflix, an even pulp fiction novels. Video games were a step up, at least they involved engagement. I also loved solo hiking, or even staring at a blank wall thinking, or not thinking. Anything to avoid cleaning the dishes, folding clothes, filling out forms, making phone calls, or any task I couldn't manage to hyperfocus on. I only escaped by getting married and having a kid. Love for others helped where love to self did not. After all, I was happy in that place, and probably still would be. But while a family is work, its also a challenge, and rising to meet it gives a real sense of accomplishment. Now that I am diagnosed as ADHD and have some mmedicine and training to deal with it, I find that using them to push through other tasks I don't like, also brings that sense of accomplishment and those unexpected rewards make it easier the next time. ADHD brains don't accept deferred rewards as positive reinforcement for learning purposes, so you either need continuous rewards, or medicine/tricks to get through. Also we respond better to negative reinforcement, so if it doesn't harm your emotional state, denying yourself things as a punishment can work, also focussing on natural consequences of failing to complete a task works sometimes, even in advance.

Re: I'm an addict

#264

Post by iamcurious »

eric_cc wrote: post #232
bin_bash wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in my mid-30's. I quit reading Reddit because in pretty much all the subreddits I was in I started to feel old. People sound like I did 10-15 years ago when I lacked the life experience I have now. I don't have this experience on HN really. I suspect I'm closer to the average age here. There is the occasional poor opinion but it usually gets downvoted pretty hard. Even people that I disagree with I learn a lot fr…

No matter what the subreddit is, it’s full of radically far left political comments. They get upvoted and any attempt to provide reason gets downvoted. Not sure how it became this way but perhaps it’s as simple as what you say: > People sound like I did 10-15 years ago when I lacked the life experience They’re kids. Or perhaps it’s more sinister and coordinated. Either way, the political component of Reddit has made…

As a non-unitedstatian, the entirety of reddit seems super right wing to me. You deserve free universal medical care.

Re: I'm an addict

#265

Post by 015a »

artemonster wrote: post #9

This hits hard. I recently counted hours watched on YT (via history export) and OH MY GD, it averaged around 3 hours daily throught the year, for several years. I just imagined WHAT IF I have spent this amount of effort and time on ANYTHING else: playing an instrument, learning a new language, coding a side-project. The thought scared me so much, aka the difference between current me and "potential" me that I have ab…

If you have YouTube Premium & the YouTube mobile app; click on your profile picture, then YouTube Premium Benefits. It'll tell you there, of all places, your total "Ad-free video watchtime"; doesn't include the hours watched without Premium, not organizing it per day, not the greatest analytics, but its a number that will surprise every person reading this.

Re: I'm an addict

#266

Post by switchbak »

artemonster wrote: post #9

This hits hard. I recently counted hours watched on YT (via history export) and OH MY GD, it averaged around 3 hours daily throught the year, for several years. I just imagined WHAT IF I have spent this amount of effort and time on ANYTHING else: playing an instrument, learning a new language, coding a side-project. The thought scared me so much, aka the difference between current me and "potential" me that I have ab…

A lot of the addictive component comes from the ML generated suggestions.

Just curate a decently small list of high quality channels and only browse via the subscriptions list. You'll know when you're all caught up and the FOMO isn't there. You'll still catch the stuff you're interested in, but you won't be pulled in a million other random directions.

That said, I have the YouTube bug pretty bad myself.

Re: I'm an addict

#267

Post by WXLCKNO »

wincy wrote: post #226
Jaruzel wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I recommend religion and religious teachings which address this and many other daily worldly issues perfectly. This advice simply doesn't work if the recipient is an atheist. To me, Religious texts are made up fiction that hold no more meaning in my world view than Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. If you read enough fiction on a shared topic, you'll be able to pull the same number of 'enlightening' quotes from thos…

I mean, I used to be an atheist. Like, going to Richard Dawkins on campus, sneering at how stupid Christians were rolling my eyes at every little thing atheist. For a good ten to fifteen years. Then I realized it was terrible for my mental health and just got over myself and adopted more of a Pascal’s Wager outlook. Like, I frankly don’t give a damn about the truth or falsity of religion anymore. That’s not the point…

I know the universe is a cold void but I find tons of meaning in seeing my family and friends be happy. From my relative perception of what's good and what matters, that's sufficient. Perpetuating mass delusion through religion doesn't seem like the better bet.

Re: I'm an addict

#268

Post by [deleted] »

tommit wrote: post #211
noobker wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I hold unto my right as a mammal to be inefficient and sit drooling looking at trees here, here!

Quick question: we have a similar (the same?) exclamation in German, it's "hört, hört!" which would be translated to "hear, hear!", not "here, here!". Is it actually "here, here!" in English or it possible you've just mistaken the words after having only heard them?

[deleted]

Re: I'm an addict

#269

Post by the_gipsy »

wnolens wrote: post #225
zagrebian wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> things as stupid as I see on reddit The majority of comments I encounter on Reddit are jokes that are at least mildly amusing, and some of them are hilarious. If I had to describe Reddit comments with one word, I’d say funny, not stupid.

The first year I spent on Reddit I thought so too. But those funny comments are often themselves memes, repeated in reply in similar contexts. Reddit has become one big circle jerk to my eyes. It's why I'm on HN, because I'm addicted but hate the community on Reddit.

Don't forget karma bots that simply repeat the top rating comment from the last submission of the same url.

Re: I'm an addict

#270

Post by wutbrodo »

bengale wrote: post #128

My desire to read the comments sections on reddit and increasingly on here completely baffle me. If I was sat in a room and the people in there were saying things as stupid as I see on reddit I would leave that room and wonder how the hell I ended up in it. What possible reason do I have to be wasting time reading the barely formed thoughts of what must be predominantly teenagers. Yet ... I find myself back there.

This is what bedevils me about Twitter. I'm rigorous about pruning my Following list to keep it intellectually honest, so my main feed is pretty great. I end up reading replies to thought-provoking or provocative tweets because there's often additional context or good-faith rebuttals in there.

But holy crap, those nuggets are buried among the ravings of the absolute stupidest people in the world. It feels poisonous to my epistemology, but the good stuff is _so_ valuable.

I suppose the solution is to try to pick topics that nobody cares about? This was tough when Covid was an informational lifeline, but maybe I can just change my interests from economics to... Quantum physics or something.

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