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If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

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Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#61

Post by ekjhgkejhgk »

esperent wrote: post #21
ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #11

To me, yes. Well, I've never been on "social media", but e.g. at night before bed some times I scroll on HN for a long time before falling asleep (30min-1hr). If I commit myself not to, I read instead. The thing we should be talking about is forms of entertainment, and social media is just one type of entertainment. We should be discussing pros and cons of different forms of entertainment. Instead the discussion is "…

I believe that reddit and HN are social media. They're a different form than Facebook or TikTok, but we come here to be social just the same. If someone used HN to find interesting articles, then spends 90% of their time reading the articles and only comes to the comments briefly to see that other people think, then it would be fair to call HN a news aggregator site for that person. But realistically, for most people…

Regardless of whether I consider HN social media or not, the point of my response is exactly the same.

But if you want to have the (less interesting) conversation about definition, I don't call HN social media, because there's no media. It's just talking to other people.

You say

> or most people, it's the opposite - 90% of time chatting with people in the comments

Exactly! I didn't even read the article. I'm just here talking to people. So I don't call it social media for the same reason that I don't call whatsapp social media. It's just social.

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#62

Post by heikkilevanto »

squigz wrote: post #51
peterspath wrote: post #16

Yes. I will hit 52 books this year next week :) I am happy that I started reading again. It is helpful to slow down, relax, be entertained, or learn something.

I'm pretty happy to say I've read somewhere between 20-30 books this year*. Right now making my way through The Silmarillion finally. I also read the entire Aubrey-Maturin series, which was incredible, even if they were probably the hardest books I've ever read. (* Less happy to say it's mostly because I've been cripplingly depressed but hey, reading is reading)

Strange, I remember trying the Silmarillion a few times, many years ago, and finding it very hard reading. Whereas I re-read the Aubrey-Maturins every few years and find them easy, if not always light weight.

I juts counted, 44 books so far this year, with lots of variation. Not

I can not say much about quitting the social media, as I never really started. Just HN, and some youtube (always start on my subscription page, only some late nights do I look at the main page with its algo suggestions). The occasional computer game (from doom to chess). Some hobby coding (retired couple of years ago), music, and yes, lots of reading.

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#63

Post by ekjhgkejhgk »

phantasmish wrote: post #49
apprentice7 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's genius ?? Gonna try this starting right now as I'm at work scrolling through HN, lmao

I just used “less” to read them, if I were to do it again I’d find something that at least kept my place on program close. I think I only accidentally closed it like once in that three months, but over time it would have been a problem worth solving.

Personally I would've opted by opening on vim inside tmux. But then again, I never liked "less".

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#64

Post by ekjhgkejhgk »

nottorp wrote: post #30
ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes!! It's incredible when I go on holiday and intentionally put myself in really boring situations for like 2+ weeks, I start having random ideas. This is absolutely true. The cynical in me even wonders if this isn't by design in capitalism. If you're really busy all the time you won't be having ideas and be a better worker.

Brave New World asked that question in 1932. IMO everyone should read it once, alongside with 1984.

I've read 1984, will read BNW. Thank you.

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#65

Post by patates »

bigmealbigmeal wrote: post #40
patates wrote: post #8

I quit social media many years ago and to answer the question: No, I just watch Youtube. If I could stop watching Youtube, I'm totally sure I'd finally be able to read books again /s The problem is the award delay. In Youtube, I get my "award" in 10 minutes max. Starting to enjoy a book requires 1-2 hours investment, and the award can be anything between 1 and 10 in a scale of 10 (while median being more like 7), and…

> I quit social media many years ago and to answer the question: No, I just watch Youtube. If I could stop watching Youtube, I'm totally sure I'd finally be able to read books again /s You /s, but when I quit the internet completely, I did become a voracious reader of books. I also spent hours practicing piano. And I went to bed on time. Like you I also have diagnosed and untreated ADHD. But at this point it feels li…

You'll probably think that I'm sort of maniac or that I'm messing with you but honestly, I feel like I'm part of the internet. I mean it. I'd probably feel like a screw that fell of a large ship. The ship is unaffected, while I'd be collecting rust at the bottom of the ocean.

My jokes sound like reddit. I give HN reactions to new startup ideas. I review code like I'm in front of a large crowd from GitHub. I make meme references. I don't play games, I watch other people play -> less stress.

On the other hand, I want to read books! I want to practice the piano! (See, I bought this nice YAMAHA keyboard that's collecting dust).

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#66

Post by ekjhgkejhgk »

jhrmnn wrote: post #28
ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #11

To me, yes. Well, I've never been on "social media", but e.g. at night before bed some times I scroll on HN for a long time before falling asleep (30min-1hr). If I commit myself not to, I read instead. The thing we should be talking about is forms of entertainment, and social media is just one type of entertainment. We should be discussing pros and cons of different forms of entertainment. Instead the discussion is "…

Same here. And while I may be on HN for a long time, I would fall asleep within minutes of a (good) book. Which tells me something about these two modes of entertainment

It tells me that a phone is, for reason I only partially understand, more stimulating in some dimension, than a book.

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#67

Post by klatchex_too »

amelius wrote: post #23
throw0101a wrote: post #5

My "problem" is more with Youtube: lots of quality (to me) content that I find educational (history, science) and entertaining.

I hope those kids in Australia still have access to that kind of content.

They mostly do. They just can't log in or comment. Anything that you can see without logging in, they will still have access to.

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#68

Post by theshrike79 »

ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #11

To me, yes. Well, I've never been on "social media", but e.g. at night before bed some times I scroll on HN for a long time before falling asleep (30min-1hr). If I commit myself not to, I read instead. The thing we should be talking about is forms of entertainment, and social media is just one type of entertainment. We should be discussing pros and cons of different forms of entertainment. Instead the discussion is "…

I think the issue with "social media" is that it doesn't end.

If your entertainment is a movie or a book, there's definite progress to it. You can finish a movie in one or two sitting, the book has a beginning and an end (unless it's by GRRM or Rothfuss...)

Even TV shows end, no matter what kind of reality dreck they are, giving you a natural point for slapping your knees, getting up and saying "yep, that's it" and moving on to something else.

Social media algorithm feeds just give you infinite amounts of content with no beginning, middle or end.

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#69

Post by thechao »

dgb23 wrote: post #17

This might sound stupid or obvious to some, but I found a way to read books more frequently: Read multiple books at once. For some reason, I read more often and am more motivated when I can switch between books. When I tried to focus on just one, I always got the feeling that I sort of have to read it and that turned me off. Another issue is that I read very slowly and think a lot when reading books, but that's appar…

Yeah, here's another one: some books just aren't good; it's ok to put it down & give up.

Re: If You Quit Social Media, Will You Read More Books?

#70

Post by ekjhgkejhgk »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #33
ekjhgkejhgk wrote: post #11

To me, yes. Well, I've never been on "social media", but e.g. at night before bed some times I scroll on HN for a long time before falling asleep (30min-1hr). If I commit myself not to, I read instead. The thing we should be talking about is forms of entertainment, and social media is just one type of entertainment. We should be discussing pros and cons of different forms of entertainment. Instead the discussion is "…

I find it strange that people don't consider HN as social media. I guess the distinction is that you don't usually directly interact with other users, but it has user-generated content, link uploading, very frequent updates, and voting — it ticks many of the same boxes, imo.

Responded to your sibling https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46230711
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