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De-Brainrot Vacations

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Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#161

Post by osjedijeidjeje »

visarga wrote: post #109
wseqyrku wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turns out t-breaks works for social media too if you admit it's an addiction that it is. When you are in it day in and day out you don't realize how much time it's costing you without the benefits that you signed up for at the beginning.

Going on social media to talk about not going on social media. It's at least 50% as effective as actually not going on social media.

Actually it’s about -100%, in fact. Given that talking about not being on social media is just another excuse for you to go on social media. Self-defeating and, honestly, quite dishonest.

In fact, doing this might be even worse than just doomscrolling, given that all you’re doing is massaging your own ego while doing absolutely nothing in favour of actualising what you are preaching.

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#162

Post by poncho_romero »

bArray wrote: post #92

> Add to that the usage of AI. While I know I’m way more productive than during those first months, my thoughts are getting slower, less profound, lazier. I have mostly stayed away from LLM usage, I think I am better for it. I use it just to offload things I wouldn't have had time for. I get more stuff done, but I am still doing what I did before. > Plus, dopamine is available at just a tap on my phone. There’s a ton…

You can do the same on iOS in the Accessibility settings. I have my phone set up so that I can toggle the monochrome filter by double tapping the back of the device. I keep it in black and white but can switch back to colour easily if I need to show someone a photo.

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#163

Post by cocoto »

I recognize myself in the first paragraph (except being totally exhausted to the point having to sleep). And I started working as a SWE 4 years ago (so full dopamine brainrot access). Maybe it is because I have a reasonable usage of LLMs?

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#164

Post by poncho_romero »

HedonicEscal8r wrote: post #153
poncho_romero wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a young person, I can at least anecdotally say the same thing is happening to people who, while older, ain't old yet.

As a young person, I have no idea what you guys are talking about, and recommend not overgeneralizing from anecdotes.

Ratio /s

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#165

Post by steve-atx-7600 »

ziofill wrote: post #155
ChrisLTD wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forties isn’t old. You might not have the energy reserves of a younger person, but you shouldn’t feel like your brain is mush.

I’m a professional theoretical physicist in my 40s and I never thought the day would come that I would realize I became shit at mental math. I can do quantum physics in my head but don’t ask me to add 17 to 34

Thanks for mentioning this. It makes me feel better about stumbling with metal math in front of some colleagues that are faster.

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#166

Post by larodi »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #122
poncho_romero wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a young person, I can at least anecdotally say the same thing is happening to people who, while older, ain't old yet.

>>We get wise too late... >>...and old too soon. >>–Danish Proverb ---- At early-forties, I don't think I count as "young" anymore. Definitely: growing up without a cell phone was beautiful. I still remember driving around semi-lost, using paper maps, quite fondly (I still print directions). My last partner (eight years my junior) "grew up on her cellphone" and it was just remarkable how fucked her brain was... at le…

It is questionable what is, at present day, considered young and old (and particularly during mid-forties), as life expectancy doubled last century from roughly ~40 to ~80 years. which makes everyone in their forties old by ... olden standards and mid-life at current ones.

if we get to live through the (forthcoming or already unfolding) singularity, there's a fair chance new life standards extend to 140-180 years*, with medicine, yoga, nootropics** and all.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy#Maximum ** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nootropic

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#167

Post by HellDunkel »

I wonder if the author is missing an opportunity to step further away by learning physics on this vacation. I usually follow the same playbook- little phone use, slow vacation, hiking in nature, phyical books (carefully selected beforehand- nothing work related, nothing technical), even used to spend a fair bit of time selecting the music i was going to listen to while driving to avoid radio or incar spotify. If lucky, i get these moments of inspiration. if not i return refreshed with slightly altered goals. Like everyone i have a chimp on my shoulder questioning me: could i have been more productive, maybe learn something useful?

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#168

Post by skyberrys »

willy_k wrote: post #121
carlosjobim wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sleep is also a forced meditation, so we can't avoid processing information. But in a different way of course.

We can totally avoid (being conscious of) processing stuff during sleep too. Just take some SSRIs or smoke weed and you wake up in the next day. I think that that has more effect on people than people realize, dreaming is important but many people don’t experience that side of things any more.

I get the wildest dreams. Lately it's nonstop cardio in my dreams. It's been like this for weeks. It is not relaxing, I don't know why my sleeping self won't just rest. Instead I have to spend the night dancing or jumping from moving train cars like frogger, climbing to the tops of high places, or just straight up running at a sprint for hours.

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#169

Post by el_benhameen »

grehbies wrote: post #36

I used to read fairly voraciously as a child; nothing like the kids who could devour a Harry Potter book between sunrises, but a respectable "novel every 2-3 weeks", somewhat above my grade level. I can remember almost the exact instant I fell off: being dissatisfied with a particular turn in a YA novel in 9th grade, and the odd moments that had been filled with page-turning suddenly became designated for sketching a…

I had a similar drop off in high school. For me it happened when the volume of assigned reading, particularly summer reading, crowded out all of the reading for pleasure. I just never started back up after that, despite fits and starts over the years.

I decided that I wanted to change about three years ago.

The first thing that helped was finding a book that I really wanted to finish and that I saw as a challenge. I tend to be motivated by challenges. Instead of “I want to get back to regular reading”, it was “I want to finish this one book no matter what”.

Second, I bought an e-reader that let me set the margins and text size to old man settings, such that there are only a few lines per screen. My mind wanders easily, especially when it feels like there’s an ocean of text on a page, so less text and frequent page turns helped me keep my momentum up and avoid constant wandering and re-reading.

As much as we all hate commutes here, getting a job that has me back in the office has had a silver lining in that time on the train is scheduled, routine time where I can’t do something else. I made the decision that it would not be dead time, so I religiously put my phone in my bag, get my book out, and focus on it for the 40 minutes until my destination.

I am a relatively slow reader like you, but much like exercise, sticking to a routine has meant slow but noticeable improvement. I think of myself as a book reader again, and I’ve made it over the hump where sustained concentration feels effortful. You can do it!

Re: De-Brainrot Vacations

#170

Post by andrewrn »

thisoneisreal wrote: post #24
holden_nelson wrote: post #11

A number of years ago I had a period of my life where I decided to shut my laptop for a while. I was working as a line cook and trying to find time and energy to code study so I could land a role in software (no degree). I was really struggling with my mental health and was having issues making or maintaining progress in pretty much any area of my life. I got a new job, cooking breakfast in a small mountain town at a…

Lots of thinkers throughout history have pointed this out (David Hume and Seneca are the first 2 that spring to mind, but I'm sure there are hundreds more). Our mind doesn't work correctly when it's constantly focused, and as much as we think scrolling is not focusing, it is. The part of your brain that lights up and pays attention is active when you're zooming through content. There's nothing wrong with it, but like…

This essay I read recently speaks about solitude in a way you might find interesting. Basically how valuable it is to be in solute but also become sensitive to how it feels when you’re not getting influenced by other minds, as you say. https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/good-ideas
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