Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

No More Internet

skloot.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 27 posts

Re: No More Internet

#11

Post by praxulus »

fein wrote: post #5

"it allows us to get really comfortable wasting a lot of time." And then the article fell completely to pieces. If you view your time searching for new information as a "waste", then you're going to end up in a world of self inflicted ignorance. We have the capabilities of sifting through bleeding edge information that shapes our lives on a daily basis with the internet. The act of ignoring this blatant fact is to ef…

Because not everybody has enough self control. I'm sure most people who waste too much time on reddit/tumblr/etc. realize they could be spending their time more productively, and many of them have made an effort to do so and failed. At that point they can try again, or just go with the nuclear option.

I would bet that cutting off their internet entirely would be a net positive for a surprising number of web users.

Re: No More Internet

#12

Post by fein »

praxulus wrote: post #11
fein wrote: post #5

"it allows us to get really comfortable wasting a lot of time." And then the article fell completely to pieces. If you view your time searching for new information as a "waste", then you're going to end up in a world of self inflicted ignorance. We have the capabilities of sifting through bleeding edge information that shapes our lives on a daily basis with the internet. The act of ignoring this blatant fact is to ef…

Because not everybody has enough self control. I'm sure most people who waste too much time on reddit/tumblr/etc. realize they could be spending their time more productively, and many of them have made an effort to do so and failed. At that point they can try again, or just go with the nuclear option. I would bet that cutting off their internet entirely would be a net positive for a surprising number of web users.

I fully agree.

The only problem I have is a desperate will for people to work out self control without resulting to absolute extremes. I really want to make the argument that people should just tone it down a bit, and maybe try to remove themselves from the shit that ends up actually being wasted time (facebook, 9gag, mainstream reddit, stumble, etc), but there's a part of me that completely sides with the idea that people should just fuck off from it entirely and enjoy the nice day.

I don't really have an issue with time management, so my internal conflict ends up hanging on the fact that I've never been in those proverbial shoes.

Re: No More Internet

#13

Post by nixterrimus »

slashclee wrote: post #2

Every time I see a post like this (including Paul Miller over at the Verge), it reminds me of an obese person suddenly deciding to go anorexic. You know what the problem is? It's not the food. It's self-control, plain and simple.

As a programmer I want to think that it's just self control, that we can impose discipline on ourselves (or products) and engineer a solution. The thing is that it looks like from the recent studies that the internet fundamentally changes the way our brain works. I'm away from my copy of The Shallows by Nicholas Carr [1] but I know that he references specific studies on the way the internet changes the brain. Here is a quote I found from a recent interview with NPR:

"Neuroscientists and psychologists have discovered that, even as adults, our brains are very plastic," Carr explains. "They're very malleable, they adapt at the cellular level to whatever we happen to be doing. And so the more time we spend surfing, and skimming, and scanning ... the more adept we become at that mode of thinking."

I highly recommend The Shallows[1]. It's a look at the way the internet is changing our brains. It really might be a good idea to limit exposure to the internet. As a programmer and geek it's worth spending some time thinking about these questions and least being aware of the affects of the medium.

[1]: http://amzn.to/Ofpbd2

Re: No More Internet

#14

Post by griffindy »

nixterrimus wrote: post #13
slashclee wrote: post #2

Every time I see a post like this (including Paul Miller over at the Verge), it reminds me of an obese person suddenly deciding to go anorexic. You know what the problem is? It's not the food. It's self-control, plain and simple.

As a programmer I want to think that it's just self control, that we can impose discipline on ourselves (or products) and engineer a solution. The thing is that it looks like from the recent studies that the internet fundamentally changes the way our brain works. I'm away from my copy of The Shallows by Nicholas Carr [1] but I know that he references specific studies on the way the internet changes the brain. Here is…

I'm not sure if this was in the book you're describing, but I remember reading somewhere that was has changed is that we no longer remember specific facts (Boston is the capital of Massachusetts), rather where we can find them most easily (Wikipedia). Whether or not that's a change for the better, I couldn't say.

Re: No More Internet

#15

Post by griffindy »

nsmartt wrote: post #9

I program every day. I live on the internet. I blog (privately), plan projects, work on said projects, and inhale information probably 15 hours per day- sometimes more (I don't sleep much). A week ago, a lightning strike took out my internet. I didn't react this way at all. I don't remember being bored except for the last day, when I was waiting for the Ethernet to USB adapter to get here (My Ethernet port was damage…

I feel the same way, and I don't even have cable! But I always have mountains of books to read, which was the pre-internet internet to an extent.

Re: No More Internet

#16

Post by mbell »

jacobolus wrote: post #8
awj wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It makes sense for an obese person to stop stocking the pantry and refrigerator with ice cream, cookies, chips, and soda. I would call this "self control", which is exactly what the GP was advocating.

Okay. Then by the same token, getting rid of the home internet connection is “self control”. So then what is he complaining about?

The proper analogy to getting rid of the internet connection would be throwing out the refrigerator, the cabinets and every piece of food or food holding device you have.

Of course, you'd be risking dying of hunger to do so, just as you'd be risking intellectual death by cutting off the internet.

Re: No More Internet

#17

Post by wpietri »

slashclee wrote: post #2

Every time I see a post like this (including Paul Miller over at the Verge), it reminds me of an obese person suddenly deciding to go anorexic. You know what the problem is? It's not the food. It's self-control, plain and simple.

Willpower is a limited commodity. This guy decided to spend his elsewhere. Why is that a problem at all?

Re: No More Internet

#18

Post by anthuswilliams »

mbell wrote: post #16
jacobolus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay. Then by the same token, getting rid of the home internet connection is “self control”. So then what is he complaining about?

The proper analogy to getting rid of the internet connection would be throwing out the refrigerator, the cabinets and every piece of food or food holding device you have. Of course, you'd be risking dying of hunger to do so, just as you'd be risking intellectual death by cutting off the internet.

He still has access to the Internet with his phone and nearby wi-fi networks. It's not like he suddenly became Amish.

Re: No More Internet

#19

Post by foobitybar »

fein wrote: post #5

"it allows us to get really comfortable wasting a lot of time." And then the article fell completely to pieces. If you view your time searching for new information as a "waste", then you're going to end up in a world of self inflicted ignorance. We have the capabilities of sifting through bleeding edge information that shapes our lives on a daily basis with the internet. The act of ignoring this blatant fact is to ef…

So, let's see here. You read this post on HN, so that means you have been spending time reading posts and responding to comments like this. That to me is wasting time. Is there nothing else that you need to do right now? You wasted that time. This is his point, and it's a good one.

But every single person responding to his post on this page, even those like me who defend him just don't get it. We have to unplug. We wonder why all of the developed countries have not been producing and China and India are. You know why? Because we are wasting our fucking time on the internet, that's why. You can blame it on the fucking Fed, the fucking banks, fucking Wall Street, the fucking automobile industry, the fucking terrorists, the fucking e-Trade shit and wild speculation and investing in e-shit that caused the fucking dot bomb bubble, but in the end, this shit is our own fucking fault. We are a bunch of lazy fucks, and we need to get the fuck off our computers and do something productive.

Re: No More Internet

#20

Post by fein »

foobitybar wrote: post #19
fein wrote: post #5

"it allows us to get really comfortable wasting a lot of time." And then the article fell completely to pieces. If you view your time searching for new information as a "waste", then you're going to end up in a world of self inflicted ignorance. We have the capabilities of sifting through bleeding edge information that shapes our lives on a daily basis with the internet. The act of ignoring this blatant fact is to ef…

So, let's see here. You read this post on HN, so that means you have been spending time reading posts and responding to comments like this. That to me is wasting time. Is there nothing else that you need to do right now? You wasted that time. This is his point, and it's a good one. But every single person responding to his post on this page, even those like me who defend him just don't get it . We have to unplug. We…

Taking a 5 minute break from writing a php tutorial sounds pretty therapeutic to me.

I have a degree in computer science with a wonderful salaried 8-5 job (doing what I love) with benefits, a wonderful girlfriend of 5 years, and 3 excellent cats. We take walks and go out to our downtown area to socialize in the many available bars on the weekends, and take vacations whenever she can get time off from work. I also greatly enjoy working on my project car when I have a spare weekend and the money required to buy parts and tools.

I'm incredibly happy with my life and what I have to show for it. I'm also incredibly grateful for the plethora of new things that I learn on a daily basis while browsing HN and reddit during little breaks from coding.

It seems as though you're a rather agitated individual at the moment, given the overtone of self deprecation in your post, but I really think that you should examine the good (great, amazing even) parts of internet citizenry along with the unfortunately bad.

Post reply on HN