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Hello, me. It's been a while

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Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#151

Post by chanux »

Leftium wrote: post #109
chanux wrote: post #40

> I’m a slow thinker, like really slow. It takes a few minutes just to get my thoughts moving in a direction. But once they pick up momentum, I can easily spend fifteen or thirty minutes exploring an idea, weighing different options Here's to the slow thinking! Cheers!!

When this was posted to HN, a lot of people could relate: https://sive.rs/slow For me, I'm not sure if "slow" is the right word. I think "delayed" or "sporadic" is more accurate. Thoughts for me are like when a word is on the tip of your tongue, but you can't think of it right away. Often you'll think of the word later: you weren't actively thinking about it, but the thought was simmering in your mind and just random…

Wow Sivers a decade ago! Thanks for bringing it up.

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#152

Post by D-Machine »

didnwjxiwus wrote: post #53
BeetleB wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Constant need for something in your ear is a very new phenomena and for some reason a lot of people have gotten in the habit of isolating themselves from the world around them and stopped being in presence of the reality. Sad. Convenient narrative, but not at all a new phenomenon. I had friends like this in the 90's. And I'm not seeing more people like this than in those days.

Not even just the 90s. This is self-stimming behaviour. People have been doing this for as long as there’ve been entertainment. This is just normal human behaviour. People using technology to aid them in this is just the modern day version of it. It’s normal. And it’s frankly quite ridiculous to see adults thinking this is ye old “people are soooooo into tech nowadays, them junkies!!!111!!!11!1!”. C’mon now.

It is a problem of degree, not of kind, in contemporary society. The degree today to which people require / can seek out distractions today is not likely "normal" compared to what we know of past human history, although the desire to do so is likely the same old desire that has always been there.

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#153

Post by bsuvc »

bambax wrote: post #80

> Recently, as I reached for the play button out of habit, I stopped. I thought: what if I just do this chore in silence today? It seems most people today have headphones on all the time. I don't understand it. I'm not sure, but it would seem people hate their own voice? I just love silence. I can't work in anything but complete silence. In open spaces I wear earplugs. (If I'm not wearing earplugs it means I'm not do…

> It seems most people today have headphones on all the time.

I don't know about other people, but for me, if I'm using my earbuds it is because someone around me is being distracting and/or annoying.

I usually prefer silence for work, but often that isn't an option.

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#154

Post by busymom0 »

bambax wrote: post #80

> Recently, as I reached for the play button out of habit, I stopped. I thought: what if I just do this chore in silence today? It seems most people today have headphones on all the time. I don't understand it. I'm not sure, but it would seem people hate their own voice? I just love silence. I can't work in anything but complete silence. In open spaces I wear earplugs. (If I'm not wearing earplugs it means I'm not do…

Recently, I've stopped carrying my headphones when I leave home and also stopped having them on after around 2pm. Somedays, I don't wear them at all.

This means, no music when working out, on public transit, when grocery shopping etc.

The reason I did this was because I was noticing that the music was getting me too hyped and that was interfering with my sleep. Sometimes, it was even stuck in my head while I was lying on my bed trying to sleep.

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#155

Post by HeadlessChild »

DavidPiper wrote: post #66

At the start of this year I wrote down "Get rid of your Airpods" as a New Years Resolution. This was basically my proxy for "stop filling every spare moment with audiobooks and podcasts". I still haven't done it, and my reflex for listening to something - even after my listening backlogs emptied a few months back - suggests I'm essentially addicted. Especially considering how much better I feel when I don't take my a…

> So, time to deal with that I guess.

So, time to deal with that.

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#156

Post by D-Machine »

A bit surprised at the focus on auditory stimuli here. There is a deeper point about our need for distraction in contemporary society which I think is with thinking about a bit.

You can scroll Twitter / read Hacker News or other sources of comments online, scroll TikTok / YouTube shorts slop-spam, read books, or constantly pipe in music / podcasts in any free moment (and these are very different and all can be good and bad in different ways), but if you are constantly fleeing boredom by grasping for whatever distraction is immediately available (even if this activity is typically seen as good, like "learning" or "reading books", or benign, like listening to music), this constant distraction has negative long-term consequences for personal growth.

There is a reason boredom comes up as crucial and important in spiritual practices (most meditation practices broadly involve forcing you to confront and learn to be comfortable with boredom, to some degree) and existential philosophy, and it is because boredom (especially existential boredom) is one way the mind tells you might not be being properly challenged, or that certain aspects of your life might not be truly fulfilling at the moment.

And sure, sometimes it isn't clear how to fix these issues, so distraction isn't inherently bad. But if all you do is distract, you'll flounder. So be wary IMO of habitually reaching for distraction (even if mild, like music / podcasts).

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#157

Post by damienmeur »

isakmarr wrote: post #112
damienmeur wrote: post #91

Great article, I wondered wether there is an existing tool on the market to solve this (generate quizz to make sure devs understand their code). Apparently some guys made a nice POC during a hackathon: https://devpost.com/software/bananaduck

This has absolutely nothing to do with the article.

yup sorry indeed, I had two hacker news tab opened and wrote this at wrong place

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#158

Post by rcxdude »

zaphar wrote: post #148
rcxdude wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does not being able to stand listening to your own thoughts mean, to you? This feels like a very 'kids these days' comment but I don't feel like I actually understand what people are talking about when they say this. For me music helps me concentrate with some tasks (especially in a more noisy environment where there are more distracting sounds), distracts for others, and for some just makes it a little less bor…

Introspection is the act of looking inward to examine your own thoughts, feelings, and motives. It is a personal process of self-reflection that helps you understand why you act and feel the way you do. Pretty much everyone can benefit with some time for introspection. This is considerably easier to do if you have silence and boredom. Music, podcasts, television all hinder the practice of introspection. It takes prac…

Ah, fair. I do often listen to music but I don't find myself short of time for introspection, in fact I probably spend too much time on it overall.

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#159

Post by conception »

jasode wrote: post #132
igleria wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My non expert and personal opinion is that multitasking for a long time is not a free lunch and could lead to burnout for most people

>multitasking for a long time is not a free lunch The multitasking I was talking about was combining a mindless repetitive task that has low cognitive demands such as walking on a treadmill, yardwork raking leaves, driving on non-descript boring roads ... with listening to a podcast about whatever topics are interesting. The mind is engaged while the hands and feet doing the work are on autopilot. In those cases, it…

It’s also under appreciated that its good to have the brain be bored and doing nothing. While you are being curious you aren’t thinking or contemplating or creating or imagining, just consuming that dopamine sink.

Re: Hello, me. It's been a while

#160

Post by D-Machine »

conception wrote: post #159
jasode wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>multitasking for a long time is not a free lunch The multitasking I was talking about was combining a mindless repetitive task that has low cognitive demands such as walking on a treadmill, yardwork raking leaves, driving on non-descript boring roads ... with listening to a podcast about whatever topics are interesting. The mind is engaged while the hands and feet doing the work are on autopilot. In those cases, it…

It’s also under appreciated that its good to have the brain be bored and doing nothing. While you are being curious you aren’t thinking or contemplating or creating or imagining, just consuming that dopamine sink.

There is indeed quite a rich literature on the importance of boredom too. Basic links can be found on Wikipedia, Buddhism generally confronts it as well, and even research in psychology generally sees it as an important cognitive or emotional process. Sadly I feel we are losing sight of this.
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