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Information is like snacks, money, and drugs to the brain

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Re: Information is like snacks, money, and drugs to the brain

#121

Post by mokanfar »

333c wrote: post #65
danr4 wrote: post #16

I consider my information addiction as one of the top 2 personal problems that are holding me back in my life. The only thing that works for me every once in a while is going cold turkey and blocking off as many websites as I can in my hosts file. I'm surprised there isn't a serious accessible product that helps people manage this addiction, because unlike drugs you can't realistically not use the internet ever again…

For Macs, there's SelfControl: https://selfcontrolapp.com It automates editing the hosts file and flushing DNS caches. It can operate as a whitelist or a blacklist.

windows alternative: https://www.focalfilter.com/

Re: Information is like snacks, money, and drugs to the brain

#122

Post by sunstone »

Bartweiss wrote: post #15

Is it just me, or is "money" the odd one out here? Snacks and drugs both have direct, obvious 'value' to the body - food is about the simplest evolutionary case imaginable, and a host of animals will get drunk given the chance. And it's easy to make a case for 'information' as something any reinforcement learner will value and seek out, since it's essentially a prerequisite for all other learning and decision-making.…

The human "plains of Africa" brain treats money as food. And prior to refrigeration in most of the world food will spoil sooner than later so you're always mindful of getting more food, which is why some people just can't stop getting more money. On some level they irrationally still believe the money they have will soon rot in the equatorial sun.

Re: Information is like snacks, money, and drugs to the brain

#123

Post by rmdashrfstar »

jb3689 wrote: post #85
jackstraw14 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience the issue isn't so much cutting off the supply but what to do to fill the time. It's not as easy as taking up a new hobby, for me at least. I think information addiction is really tricky because it's compromising a key part of what humans are, information processors. We are always processing some kind of information, all the time. I can go straight from video gaming to reading a book, but my mind tak…

I broke out of a long term video game addiction (I think we can call it that now) a few years ago. I still go back to them from once or twice a year and I'm always surprised by how hard the grip of them is even after just a play or two. Not all games grip me hard but some just suck me in and suddenly I'm burning 5-6 hours a night Have you tried graphic novels? I've found them good for when I get restless.

How did you break video game addiction? Asking for a friend, while he excels technically in his line of work, he has issues socially which he escapes through video games.

Re: Information is like snacks, money, and drugs to the brain

#124

Post by skinnymuch »

komali2 wrote: post #43
dmix wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure the environmental folks would love it if even a small percentage of the human population started doing that on a regular basis instead of relying on agriculture and industry.

Lots of people do have gardens already

How long could they survive off their garden and own produced food alone? It’s nice people have their own food production in these small ways. But it isn’t enough.

Re: Information is like snacks, money, and drugs to the brain

#125

Post by skinnymuch »

lone_haxx0r wrote: post #64

I, for one, don't care about my phone. I routinely forget where I put it. I use it a total of ~15 minutes a day. My desktop computer, on the other hand, I check hacker news every 5 minutes. Even if I know there's nothing of interest or I've already read all the comments about things I care about, I check just in case.

Wondering if you actually track or can see how long you use your phone? Even when I barely use my phone. Just because of doing a web search, maps, a bit of data tracking, analytics for phone usage always adds ups to close to 30 min.

Re: Information is like snacks, money, and drugs to the brain

#126

Post by c0vfefe »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #69
danr4 wrote: post #16

I consider my information addiction as one of the top 2 personal problems that are holding me back in my life. The only thing that works for me every once in a while is going cold turkey and blocking off as many websites as I can in my hosts file. I'm surprised there isn't a serious accessible product that helps people manage this addiction, because unlike drugs you can't realistically not use the internet ever again…

I've been using the StayFocusd [1] extension in Chrome, which gives you a daily allowance on sites you list. ... but then I found myself using Safari to get around that allowance. There's also Forest [2], which "gamifies" staying away from websites for a certain time. It's the Chrome extension version of the Forest iOS app [3] to stay away from your phone. I like to think of StayFocusd as the stick, and Forest as the…

HabitRPG also exists, for the full gamification effect.

Re: Information is like snacks, money, and drugs to the brain

#127

Post by edoo »

Dajsvaro wrote: post #48
edoo wrote: post #7

This can easily be channeled into a positive. If you are consuming information that has value I don't see the problem. I binge a little on engineering videos each week that add to my personal and professional life. I love absorbing new information. It is a far cry from going down youtube holes of reality tv highlights, celebrity news, or other modes of cultural decay.

Honest question. Maybe I'm old, or maybe I'm not a visual or aural learner, but I don't get much out of watching Youtube videos. Do you find them a better learning tool than reading a well produced document or tutorial?

They can be but I'd agree documents are usually better for in depth knowledge. Seeing a demonstration really helps me get started.

Re: Information is like snacks, money, and drugs to the brain

#128

Post by 1123581321 »

Dajsvaro wrote: post #48
edoo wrote: post #7

This can easily be channeled into a positive. If you are consuming information that has value I don't see the problem. I binge a little on engineering videos each week that add to my personal and professional life. I love absorbing new information. It is a far cry from going down youtube holes of reality tv highlights, celebrity news, or other modes of cultural decay.

Honest question. Maybe I'm old, or maybe I'm not a visual or aural learner, but I don't get much out of watching Youtube videos. Do you find them a better learning tool than reading a well produced document or tutorial?

I prefer to read to learn, overall, but I really like that a video of someone doing the thing I want to learn will communicate their assumptions and less tangible knowledge via their actions.
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