Live data from Hacker News

The Last Quiet Thing

terrygodier.com

1–10 of 165 posts

Re: The Last Quiet Thing

#2
My smart watch has become an invaluable digital prosthetic to help me backfill cognitive challenges that I’ve learned are related to ADHD.

“It dings all the time!” Yes, exactly, having a buzzer attached to my person at all times ensures I don’t miss appointments and that I leave to things on time.

Your thermostat that bothers you? It would be great if we lived in a world where energy was free, and there were no consequences for using as much energy as you want. That’s not the world we live in. And you probably don’t want to live in a world where the power company decides when you can and can’t turn on your AC. This is the compromise. I’m sorry you’re bothered by it — the consequences of other solutions to this problem are likely much worse.

It’s easy to forget that these things exist, and people buy them, to solve real problems. But writing a whole essay and just eliding that fact strikes me as lazy.

Re: The Last Quiet Thing

#3
This post says, “22% dismiss notifications”. Why do people allow this? I see people with phones that have 3 new notifications per 5 minutes and none of them are human being messages or human being event reminders.

Turn off every notification that isn’t actionable or joyful to you. The news isn’t actionable. Stop letting the news task you. Your social feeds aren’t actionable. Stop letting your feeds task you.

(And, yes, I’ll concede that Duo push is valid, because either I initiated that, or I have a problem to solve. Being employed brings some of us joy, after all!)

Notifications are not meant to fill the silences in your life. Your thoughts are. Not all the random drivel that phones opportunistically shovel into our faces.

I don’t really like this post because it rabble-rouses rather than owning up to the major failure of the author up top. Maybe it’ll help someone regardless, but it could have been a lot more direct with no less effectiveness. Missed opportunity, I suppose.

Re: The Last Quiet Thing

#8
post #6
post #5

Ha. Ha. Ha. He expects to still find a battery fit for the Casio watch 7 years from now! Good luck with that buddy!

Essay author here - they're readily available! It's just a CR2016. ref: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Casio+F-91W+Battery+Replacement...

Just a humorous jab :)

Re: The Last Quiet Thing

#9
post #4

There's a great essay hiding in that page, but oh my goodness that is a frustrating format and layout.

Sorry, I try to keep both camps in mind as I build these things. There's a text version linked at the top, but the link is here: https://www.terrygodier.com/the-last-quiet-thing/ascii

Re: The Last Quiet Thing

#10

This post says, “22% dismiss notifications”. Why do people allow this? I see people with phones that have 3 new notifications per 5 minutes and none of them are human being messages or human being event reminders. Turn off every notification that isn’t actionable or joyful to you. The news isn’t actionable. Stop letting the news task you. Your social feeds aren’t actionable. Stop letting your feeds task you. (And, ye…

Managing these notifications (which are on by default most of the time) is a form of what I'm writing at here, isn't it?
Post reply on HN