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Ask HN: I lost any interest in technology. What do I do?

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Re: Ask HN: I lost any interest in technology. What do I do?

#11

Post by JohnFen »

fnoef wrote: post #4
dieselgate wrote: post #2

Well what else are you interested in? There is a lot more to life than technology, maybe take a break and learn a new skill or get exposed to something new.

That's the problem - nothing. I was loving the profession so much that I did it during working hours, and then working on my stuff in the evenings and weekends.

I recommend that you just start trying out hobbies. Pick something. Anything (although at least initially, make it something that has a community that's local to you.) Commit to it for a set period of time (for me, one or two months works) and force yourself to get into it.

After getting to know the thing beyond first impressions, you'll learn whether or not it actually turns your gears. If it doesn't, drop it and pick something else. Eventually, you will luck into something that excites you -- and it very well may be something that you never would have thought would excite you.

Re: Ask HN: I lost any interest in technology. What do I do?

#13

Post by goodmythical »

fnoef wrote: post #4
dieselgate wrote: post #2

Well what else are you interested in? There is a lot more to life than technology, maybe take a break and learn a new skill or get exposed to something new.

That's the problem - nothing. I was loving the profession so much that I did it during working hours, and then working on my stuff in the evenings and weekends.

Ah, my other response might be off with this new information. You've not diversified your portfolio and are suffering from a shock to your primary investment.

You might consider adding some new things to do with your time so that the coding is not such a total aspect of your life.

I suffered chronic depression for decades, and the thing that no one ever told me is that there is no One Thing.

The exercise didn't fix it. The therapy didn't fix it. The meditation didn't fix it. The hobbies didn't fix it. It was Everything. When I'm not happy with my art, I do more exercise. When I'm not happy with my exercise, I do more meditation, etc. More social interactions, stronger networks, deeper support group. Eating better. Less social media. Less infotainment. More water. Everything. All the things.

A multitude of small changes has accumulated to a state in which I am now bothered by very little and can easily shrug off a wide variety of things that would previously have shut me down for hours or days.

Re: Ask HN: I lost any interest in technology. What do I do?

#14

Post by xxwink »

Technology is not life. It might make your life easier or it might connect you to people or experiences that would be hard to achieve without it. But technology is not the end goal. You past interest have brought you here. That doesn't mean it was "wrong" or that you can't find the passion again. But it seems like you need a break and maybe a new passion for a while

Re: Ask HN: I lost any interest in technology. What do I do?

#15

Post by goodmythical »

JohnFen wrote: post #11
fnoef wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the problem - nothing. I was loving the profession so much that I did it during working hours, and then working on my stuff in the evenings and weekends.

I recommend that you just start trying out hobbies. Pick something. Anything (although at least initially, make it something that has a community that's local to you.) Commit to it for a set period of time (for me, one or two months works) and force yourself to get into it. After getting to know the thing beyond first impressions, you'll learn whether or not it actually turns your gears. If it doesn't, drop it and pi…

I've found that coding types often enjoy creation type hobbies. Think arts and crafts. Wood working, welding, sculpture, machining, 3d printing.

It's got the same kind of "how do I make what is currently nothing much in to something useful and or beautiful" problem solving, so it tickles the same kind of neurons, I suppose.

Re: Ask HN: I lost any interest in technology. What do I do?

#17

Post by bruce511 »

goodmythical wrote: post #15
JohnFen wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recommend that you just start trying out hobbies. Pick something. Anything (although at least initially, make it something that has a community that's local to you.) Commit to it for a set period of time (for me, one or two months works) and force yourself to get into it. After getting to know the thing beyond first impressions, you'll learn whether or not it actually turns your gears. If it doesn't, drop it and pi…

I've found that coding types often enjoy creation type hobbies. Think arts and crafts. Wood working, welding, sculpture, machining, 3d printing. It's got the same kind of "how do I make what is currently nothing much in to something useful and or beautiful" problem solving, so it tickles the same kind of neurons, I suppose.

I'll add Music. And its never too late to learn. I'm in my 50s and learning piano for the first time.

Re: Ask HN: I lost any interest in technology. What do I do?

#18

Post by mildeukaryote » 

  I like to think
  (it has to be!)
  of a cybernetic ecology
  where we are free of our labors
  and joined back to nature,
  returned to our mammal
  brothers and sisters,
  and all watched over
  by machines of loving grace.
from https://allpoetry.com/All-Watched-Over-By-Machines-Of-Loving...

Re: Ask HN: I lost any interest in technology. What do I do?

#19

Post by 8by3 »

I'm with you, tech should be a means to an end, not an end in itself. I've been spending a lot of time recently thinking about using tech for good, to do things we couldn't do without it but without being sticky, or gamified, or enshitified.

That's why I built https://kilta.io/. The wolves have spent the last ~25 years splitting people up, convincing them to optimise themselves as personal products, and in so doing undermining real world communities. Kilta has absolutely zero revenue model, its built to be unmontizeable.

But its really hard to build alternatives to the status quo, as you need to break through all the noise, through the slick marketing campaigns, through the millions in venture funding trying to convince you to create "content" for them to make money from. And anything that is trying to heal the hole these products have created actually needs people to use it to give it value.

Re: Ask HN: I lost any interest in technology. What do I do?

#20

Post by 0xmattf »

Same. I was so fascinated by lower-level stuff (chips, assembly, etc.), but when I finally started to dig into it, AI came around and did what would take me forever to do myself in seconds. I thought pivoting from software dev to pentesting would be spark my motivation, but again, AI can do it quicker. I don't find this stuff rewarding anymore.

This made me think about the kinds of things I do find rewarding. OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, etc. are billion dollar companies. But what exactly are they? You cannot touch them. You can't smell them. They're not real in the sense that other things are, such as a painting or a statue. If the global power grid were to go down, the value of these companies would drop to 0. Of course, this is unlikely, but I think the point holds.

Nowadays, I want to build physical things; I do wish I went into a different engineering field.

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