Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Era of Distraction

raymundtamayo.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 54 posts

Re: Era of Distraction

#21

Post by eterm »

thegainz wrote: post #10

I've recently given up a big temptation/distractor in my life. I packed up my gaming desktop and gave it away, and now I just use my laptop which I long ago set aside as school-only. This thing couldn't even play games if I wanted to, but it CAN ssh and compile code. I mean, after 9.5 years of playing DotA, what's the point? My grades have improved and I'm overall happier as I invest more time learning skills that I…

Good for you. I'm often tempted to do the same, I still play 2-3 hours a day of PC games most nights after work. It isn't healthy but then if I didn't I suspect I'd binge on netflix or even just regular TV instead. I think eventually I'll grow out of it and do more reading, cooking and other activities, but it'll take a decision on my part to make that happen.

Re: Era of Distraction

#22

Post by mcone »

JadeNB wrote: post #19

> I don’t want to offend anyone, and I’m saying this with absolute care and humility… but if only they hadn’t had that much stuff then they would have had an easier time evacuating their homes and focusing on making sure their families are safe. I've never understood these "I'm not a racist, but"-type comments. This is offensive, and does not demonstrate care and humility. Someone who learns from such a tragedy princ…

This is an example of "procatalepsis" or "prolepsis" [1], a rhetorical device that is often used to try to defuse criticism. Authors often use this to try to slip something controversial by their readers [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procatalepsis

[2] http://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/apr...

Re: Era of Distraction

#23

Post by eterm »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #6
zkanda wrote: post #5

The first half of the article is a genuine problem. There's just so much distraction going on right now, I wonder how people are being productive.

I know HN sure isn't helping me be productive from minute to minute! I'm checking it compulsively for new posts. Hopefully its teaching me enough to compensate...

When I'm busy at work I turn on "noprocrast" mode. I still open hn all the time but the "get back to work!" message helps me close it quicker.

Re: Era of Distraction

#24

Post by tedks »

frou_dh wrote: post #20
Karunamon wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is pretty blatantly a book ad... FTA: Writer's Note: This is the first chapter of my book "Simplify Life... and Make it Count." Get it in Kindle.

All your quote shows me is that you home in on something (anything!) to be offended about. What's wrong with an author's book excerpt?

It's hard to "home in" on something that's only in the last line of the article. But before coming to the comments, I too chuckled a little at the irony of an ad for an ebook being disguised as a polemic against consumerism and distraction.

If you do not see the irony in this, that's fine; you are still a special person and your life or viewpoints are no less valuable. But that's not a reason to personally attack those that do notice this irony.

Re: Era of Distraction

#25

Post by mrushland »

thegainz wrote: post #10

I've recently given up a big temptation/distractor in my life. I packed up my gaming desktop and gave it away, and now I just use my laptop which I long ago set aside as school-only. This thing couldn't even play games if I wanted to, but it CAN ssh and compile code. I mean, after 9.5 years of playing DotA, what's the point? My grades have improved and I'm overall happier as I invest more time learning skills that I…

Congrats! This was really difficult for me. I recently packed up my desktop as well (three weeks in so far) and I'm starting to see much more self-engagement in activities I enjoy but were easy to push aside to play fallout instead.

My wife and I have been trying the KonMari [1] method of tidying up recently and this dovetailed nicely into that work. Note that I don't necessarily agree with everything the method prescribes, but it was an interesting exercise either way.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Kondo#KonMari_method

Re: Era of Distraction

#26

Post by ickwabe »

dopeboy wrote: post #13

I don't think the author should be using the "we" pronoun. He's welcome to talk about himself but it's a step too far in generalizing that everyone has those behaviors and tendencies. Second, he needs to take a deep breath and relax. There is a balance that can be achieved through focus and discipline. How about changing the discussion to educating parents on these distractions and nipping the false sense of anxiety…

As indicated at the bottom of the article, this is only the first chapter of a book in which he does offer solutions and strategies. http://www.raymundtamayo.com/p/simplify-life-and-make-it-cou...

Regarding use of "we". Clearly (at least to me) he is referring to societal trends that are fairly common. Not a specific groups of "we"s. So clearly there are plenty of folks who are not effected by these challenges. It's fairly pendantic to get hung up on this word.

Re: Era of Distraction

#27

Post by ggreer »

JadeNB wrote: post #19

> I don’t want to offend anyone, and I’m saying this with absolute care and humility… but if only they hadn’t had that much stuff then they would have had an easier time evacuating their homes and focusing on making sure their families are safe. I've never understood these "I'm not a racist, but"-type comments. This is offensive, and does not demonstrate care and humility. Someone who learns from such a tragedy princ…

From Scott Alexander's post, The Eighth Meditation on Superweapons and Bingo[1]:

> But why would someone use "I'm not racist, but..."? It sounds to me like what they are saying is: "Look. I know what I am saying is going to sound racist to you. You're going to jump to the conclusion that I'm a racist and not hear me out. In fact, maybe you've been trained to assume that the only reason anyone could possibly assert it is racism and to pattern-match this position to a racist straw man version. But I actually have a non-racist reason for saying it. Please please please for the love of Truth and Beauty just this one time throw away your prejudgments and your Bingo card and just listen to what I'm going to say with an open mind."

> And so you reply "Hahahaha! He really used the 'look I know what I'm saying is going to sound racist to you you're going to jump to the conclusion that I'm a racist and not hear me out in fact maybe you've been trained to assume...' line! What a racist! Point and laugh, everyone! POINT AND LAUGH!"

Poor reactions to such disclaimers have gotten so bad that I'm now seeing disclaimers referencing that fact. "I know racists say, 'I'm not racist but...', but in this case..."

Most often, people who use such disclaimers really aren't racist. Or if they are, it's by accidental ignorance, not purposeful maliciousness. In any case, it's more productive to respond with civil discourse rather than claiming offense and biting their head off.

1. http://squid314.livejournal.com/329561.html

Re: Era of Distraction

#28

Post by arh68 »

Have any of you seen this television ad? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4GjGhAhCn8

Cox is the official sponsor of binge-watching.

Addiction sells (see Phillip Morris). The wonderful thing about selling Internet is that you don't create the content, you just provide access to it. As content gets larger and larger (320x240 -> 4K streams..) so do profits. It's bizarre to me how blatantly they want their users to be helplessly addicted.

I think the author is right about tangible things ("stuff") but could spend more time pointing out the intangible addictions: 1000+ RSS feed items to read, 100+ TV episodes to catch up on, 10+ news aggregators to check, 100+ new PNGs to arrow through, etc. These things don't pile up quite so visibly.

Re: Era of Distraction

#30

Post by Htsthbjig »

I think the author uses the term "we" when he should talk about himself.

He presents distraction as an insurmountable problem, and it is not. Society develops antibodies for everything, including novelties in the later century like propaganda and media mass control, advertisement and even TV.

As tools things like cinema, TV or Internet, or cell phones give us much more options that what is taken from us.

For example, going to the cinema for two hours made people understand places and people living far away much better than any book theater or picture could.

Now if you want to solve distraction finding people that have solved it and developed effective techniques is only a touch away, if you really want to solve it instead of ranting about "we sinners" on Internet.

Having said that "Man shall not live on bread alone". Some distraction in your life is necessary. People are not productivity machines. Curiosity is Ok. I "lost" time on HN, but I always "gain" from things I learn on it. I have cashed lots of money from this knowledge but hadn't I, I will continue reading it.

Using twitter or facebook for getting in touch with the people you love does not need to take so much time and could be very useful.

Post reply on HN