It’s fine. The other stuff I would be doing is way worse.
Ask HN: How do you deal with information and internet addiction?
151–160 of 216 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with information and internet addiction?
#152This sounds simplistic/naive, but have you ever tried just starting a project? With every project I have an initial reluctance to start. But once I start I usually feel compelled to finish it (these are usually woodworking projects). Just start. Choose something realistic. Make it consistent. Even just 20 minutes in the morning or evening. And if you abandon whatever it is - maybe "it" wasn't for you, but you probabl…
> This sounds simplistic/naive, but have you ever tried just starting a project?
looks at my troves and troves of unfinished projects
Starting projects is a bad habit >:(
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with information and internet addiction?
#153* get a dumb phone or a really shitty smartphone
* turn off all notifications
* use greasemonkey and OS level features to limit your access
* use offline devices for consuming long-form content (e.g. books and readers)
* find other equally indulgent supplements, like movies or video games
* start a side project you can get excited about. Maybe start a blog or write some OSS
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with information and internet addiction?
#154* get a dumb phone or a really shitty smartphone * turn off all notifications * use greasemonkey and OS level features to limit your access * use offline devices for consuming long-form content (e.g. books and readers) * find other equally indulgent supplements, like movies or video games * start a side project you can get excited about. Maybe start a blog or write some OSS
> * use greasemonkey and OS level features to limit your access
I've been waaaay down this road and all I can say is that if you can limit access you can unlimit access.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with information and internet addiction?
#155Some of the tools which have helped me rediscover my focus and discipline: * Use the CLI for everything - reduce the amount of time you have a browser open * An egg timer - use this every time a tedious task needs completing * A dumb phone - small and minimal functionality, easy to forget about * A watch - stop using your phone for checking the time * Cook your own food - excellent use of time * Exercise - no headpho…
> A dumb phone - small and minimal functionality, easy to forget about This requires more diligence, but can't you create the experience you want on a smart phone (no social media, disable all notifications, etc.) without giving up utilities that provide actual value, such as GPS / navigation? > Exercise - no headphones, a gym provides background music and enough human contact to keep boredom at bay Interesting. I fe…
GPS can be in not so malicious environment, I'm talking about separate GPS device instead of addictionful phone with no buttons, so-called smart but maybe not for end user's brain and free time.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with information and internet addiction?
#156I found HealthyGamerGG’s recent video really useful for this: https://youtu.be/8PYhEWK2wVA Some scattered notes from this video: - when you're bored, your mind is looking for a particular stimulation - when you allow yourself to resolve boredom with dopaminergic activities like video games, you reinforce for yourself the idea that this is how to relieve yourself of boredom. Your brain in turn will learn to immediatel…
I was thinking of the same channel, but the video "why you don't want to do anything after binging 4 hours of YouTube videos".
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with information and internet addiction?
#157I have only one advice which I am successfully following for years since Android 2 stopped being a thing. Just have no smartphone!
If you need an app then you might need a web-browser.
OK, sometimes you really need an app, then you might to not need their service at all.
OK, OK, sometimes you not only need an app but have no choice to replace the need. Then just borrow a smartphone from friends or ask them to help you.
I am going to do anything and everything to NOT have a smartphone at all because having a smartphone and not using is very similar to having a little bit of cocaine and not consuming it - well, if you know at least anything about drugs this is too unrealistic.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with information and internet addiction?
#158I did a 3-part video series talking about setting up "Parental controls" (using a mixture of OpenWRT and PiHole), which can flexibly dial back access to certain websites - especially Social Media ones - on a given home LAN. This denial can be on a timed basis, and/or on a MAC-address basis.
Even when fully restricted, LAN access is still granted to a convenient library (served up by calibre-web) of edifying, much-more-wholesome ebooks on a Raspberry Pi, self-hosted. This flexible approach always leaves something to be accessed for those who still feel the need for an "out" of some sort (instead of total denial of all internet access).
Here's part 3, where I showed the setup and operation of OpenWRT and Pihole: https://bhikkhu.ca/buddhism/video/2022/12/19/Dhamma_Talk_098...
Part 2 talked about Calibre-web the most, which is linked to there.
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with information and internet addiction?
#159This sounds simplistic/naive, but have you ever tried just starting a project? With every project I have an initial reluctance to start. But once I start I usually feel compelled to finish it (these are usually woodworking projects). Just start. Choose something realistic. Make it consistent. Even just 20 minutes in the morning or evening. And if you abandon whatever it is - maybe "it" wasn't for you, but you probabl…
> This sounds simplistic/naive, but have you ever tried just starting a project? looks at my troves and troves of unfinished projects Starting projects is a bad habit >:(
Ha. Fair enough. For some people that's the case but OP seems not to have started any hence the (admittedly naive) suggestion.
I bet you have fun though!!
Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with information and internet addiction?
#160This may be surprising as an answer but….just stop
I swore off TV for about ten years. Didn’t really miss it. Had watched a bunch before. Wanted to focus on other stuff so I cut it out. Same with video games.
It doesn’t sound like listening to podcasts/YouTube while working is adding anything to your life. So….don’t? Go cold turkey on it.
Pick some music instead to replace it, I find classical or brain.fm are good companions
Literally 100% of the efforts I have made to “manage” information consumption have failed. In the presence of compulsion, cold turkey is the only thing I’ve found that works.
I can now watch TV as a social activity or play Nintendo occasionally. Relationship to both changed and they aren’t compulsions as they were. That can happen with time. With a lot of time.
But right now just stop. Ask yourself why you would even multitask in this way when multitasking is known not to work? The only times I listen to podcasts while doing another activity is when it is truly mindless, like cooking or cleaning.
And maybe find new work. The space you gain from not filling your brain with chatter could let you figure out a path here