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I'm an addict

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Re: I'm an addict

#361

Post by ajmurmann »

smrtinsert wrote: post #254
eric_cc wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'd love to hear what your definition of radical far left is.

Not the parent, but still want to respond. I'd probably be seen as radical and far left myself, especially on social and environmental issues (I identify as neo-liberal though), but I'm pretty scared by how often I read calls to abandon "capitalism". It happens on almost every subreddit and even more scarry, I've heard it from other super smart younger people in person. I think some of this is to blame on corporatism in the US. Attacking capitalism as a whole strikes me as incredibly naive though and risks slaughtering the golden goose without any viable replacement.

Re: I'm an addict

#362

Post by nicoburns »

treeman79 wrote: post #331
nicoburns wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One constant teaching was that Christianity is not a religion. But about forming a relationship with God through Christ. How can one even begin to attempt that task if one truly doubts that God exists? Also, is believing a God of some sort not exactly what a religion is?

Religion is a set of rules and traditions. Perform 50 hail marries. Light 50 candles. Only eat X on whatever day. A relationship is trying to understand God. What he means. How you can serve him. What kind of life Christ lived. How to live as an example to others. Everyone has doubts. Most of my teachers would talk about times that they struggled. It takes a lot of faith to believe that there is an all powerful God.…

> It takes a lot of faith to believe that there is an all powerful God. that loves you for you.

I feel like I kind of get what you're saying. But it seems to even have this perspective that one ought to try to believe in God, to be motivated to struggle, one already has to accept religious teachings of some kind.

I don't struggle to believe that the universe popped out of nothing, I very easily and without any effort on my part maintain the belief that it's pretty much impossible for us to know where the universe came from and that it's probably not worth expending too much effort worrying about it. I'd see having to make an effort to believe something somewhat of a red flag regarding the validity of that belief.

> Worse that happens is people were nicer to each other for awhile. The other is that you spend eternity in Heaven.

I mean, some religious people are nice to each other. Others are downright nasty and make life very difficult for people who don't fit into their worldview (for example because they're gay). And presumably the worst case is that there is in fact a God who happens to take the opposite view on morality to the Christian one and thus Christians end up spending an eternity in Hell. As far as I can that's no less likely than there being a Christian God.

Re: I'm an addict

#363

Post by ehnto »

freemint wrote: post #45
jstummbillig wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 This is a very unfair set of "ANYTHING else". I am sure you can come up with more real world list of what other people actually do after work, and that might make you feel a little more lenient about your own choices and needs. > Any other ideas besides cold tur…

I even have cron job which over writes /etc/hosts with an /etc/hosts.bak with that content and i have disabled any dns caching in firefox (don't ask me how). Yet .... Sigh ....

Oh smart. I sometimes remove it and then forget to put it back, and forget that it was something I was supposed to put back, and also forget that those sites were something I was trying to avoid, so visiting them doesn't prompt me to put them back. The brain is really good at forgetting those minor details.

Re: I'm an addict

#364

Post by wellthisisgreat »

swat535 wrote: post #257
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…

> Religious texts are made up fiction that hold no more meaning in my world view than Harry Potter or Game of Thrones I have been downvoted many times (not sure why?) for stating this on HN, but I will state it again: It's sad that this line of thinking has taken over the modern time. We now have "science", so we don't need any of that silly stuff like "philosophy" or "art" or "religion". All can be explained through…

Religion would be ok to me and, I’d imagine, OP if it presented itself as philosophy or fairy tales that you could take or leave. Or a part of human history like medieval knights.

It’s a curios byproduct of human inquisitiveness and that’s it. it shouldn’t have any special rights or claims to have a deeper understanding of the universe that would even give certain people (priests etc) to be the judges of other people’s actions.

The world wouldn’t succumb into chaos if all churches / mosques etc . were gone in an instant and people forgot they existed as anything but pretty buildings.

There were of course smart and kind people at all times and they happened to use the vehicles of religion some long long time ago when it seemed like the best logic toolbox for the mind

Re: I'm an addict

#365

Post by engineer_22 »

snikeris wrote: post #275
wincy wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> If pressed I guess I’ll say it’s unlikely to be true. But that’s not the point. The problem is expecting the dogma of a thousands years old tradition and book to be absolutely true. There are things in the Bible and Christianity that are basically tall tales. For example, I doubt Jesus was immaculately conceived, but it makes for a great story. People make up stories about remarkable people. I believe Jesus was a r…

I didn't read it, but I listened to an audiobook version of TKOGIWY about a year ago on a long road trip. I must have missed something, because my take-away was that the author was propounding the merits of of passivism, and anti-authoritarianism. I thought it was tedious. I remember being disappointed.

Re: I'm an addict

#366

Post by mitchdoogle »

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…

It seems like you've really loaded up the term "atheist" here with a lot of negative connotation. It's unfortunate, but a lot of people seem to think this way. Truth is, everyone in the world is an atheist if you just take the word at its basic definition of "a lack of belief in a god or god(s)". That is, there are surely gods you've never even heard of and so you lack belief in them. The way you feel about those unknown gods is the same way I feel about all gods

But the label of atheist has been imbued with all sorts of negativity. So much so that some people hear it and think being an atheist actually makes someone evil, without any care for the well-being of other humans. Or they think the atheist must be miserable and unfeeling.

It's why I don't even use the term any more. I don't know if other people I'm talking to will have the same definition of the term that I do. If someone asks me about my religious beliefs, I simply say that I have none.

Re: I'm an addict

#367

Post by cancerhacker »

boppo1 wrote: post #339
annie_muss wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this completely. I sounded just like the OP. I struggled with it for decades. Then recently I was diagnosed and started taking medication. Some of the problems basically stopped instantly. I implore anyone reading this and noticing it in themselves to go to a professional and find out if you have ADHD or not. I am by no means "cured" or completely functional but at least now I have a fighting chance.

Medication came with unacceptable side-effects for me. Real bummer.

There may be different medications that can help.

I was initially given Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine) and it was so good and I wrote the most beautiful code and my focus was pure and I needed more and more and I lined the pills up at night and did I mention beautiful code, on on sentences and becoming insufferable?

Anyway, I switched to a different stimulant (vyvanse) which had a more measured effect and did not lead to that kind of addictive over the top behavior.

Apropos of the original post - I find that during a procrastination spell, I’m still “working” in the back of my mind even though it might look like I’m doing legos at work. At some point my brain hits what I think of as an “activation level” and I suddenly “flip” my attention and focus to the job at hand. It feels like what happens when you’re kindling a fire, and you get a little bit of flame in some dry stuff, and then you “pop” that flame (attention) into the larger pile of fuel.

Re: I'm an addict

#368

Post by birdyrooster »

thomastjeffery wrote: post #271

Sounds like OP isn't necessarily an addict: they have ADHD. Half the article was them complaining about poor working memory, and the rest about getting stimulation/dopamine from unhealthy sources. Everyone has "a little ADHD". We all occasionally , forget things, hyperfocus on things we are excited about, etc. ADHD is the disorder of having those struggles so often it's debilitating. It stems from having an underdeve…

People with ADHD are twice as likely to become addicted to substances, I assume the same is true of YouTube. For many, including me, ADHD and addiction come hand in hand.

Re: I'm an addict

#369

Post by loves_mangoes »

malnourish wrote: post #317
anonymoushn wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Desoxyn 5mg is highly reviewed by people who have it prescribed for ADHD.

Good luck getting prescribed that by any GP. I am as above board as I can be when it comes to my medicine (never take more than 1 a day, never ask for more, etc) but the song and dance for getting refills, let alone a new or changed prescription, makes me feel like a criminal hunting for his next fix. I can't imagine what it must be like for people who legitimately need opiates.

It seems bitterly ironic that the people who need those stimulant medications the most tend to be those who will have the most trouble jumping through all the hoops, and continuing to perform the song and dance on time every month.

The 'good news' is the active compound in Desoxyn is widely available at cheap prices and surprisingly high-purity in hypo-regulated markets. It is, in a way, easier to acquire (on every street corner and through the mail) than many very boring prescription chemicals. So there is at least a theoretical alternative.

Amphetamines for ADHD is one of the most effective treatment there is in all of medicine, along with things like insulin for diabetics and benzodiazepines for anxiety.

Unfortunately, self-medicating with N-methylamphetamine is an extraordinarily unwise thing to try. It is hard to recommend that anyone who is already prone to substance abuse attempt that maneuver.

Re: I'm an addict

#370

Post by sosuke »

burner22 wrote: post #286
thomastjeffery wrote: post #271

Sounds like OP isn't necessarily an addict: they have ADHD. Half the article was them complaining about poor working memory, and the rest about getting stimulation/dopamine from unhealthy sources. Everyone has "a little ADHD". We all occasionally , forget things, hyperfocus on things we are excited about, etc. ADHD is the disorder of having those struggles so often it's debilitating. It stems from having an underdeve…

I feel seen. My mechanism for remaining focused and getting through work has been to consume harder illicit substances, mostly cocaine. It's effective but definitely not sustainable long time and I'm not too sure where from here.

Short answer, prescription drugs can reliably fill in the spot of cocaine. You'll save money, stress and also these drugs can cover much more of the day.

No joke; shoot me an email if you want a detailed solution. I can easily chew your ear off with my own tale and anecdotes. Email on my profile page.

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