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YouTube addiction, one month sober

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Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#211

Post by the_af »

q3k wrote: post #204
the_af wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Impossible with 300+ people in the org, and the expectation that everyone is available during work hours. It's best to assume that not every workplace functions in a way compatible with this universal "let's turn off Slack and only check it once an hour" scenario. Also, these decisions cannot be made on an individual basis -- that's the best way to get fired -- but everyone else must be on board, at least your immedi…

Try it. When someone complains you can always go back. But they probably won't. It's the same with bullshit meetings. Just decline the invitation and you'll be surprised how little anyone will usually care.

No, I cannot "try it", it goes against official company policy. I will not risk my job on random advice from people working in a different country and for a different company.

Is it so hard to accept that "universal" advice is seldom universal, and that your circumstances may not apply to everyone?

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#212

Post by iteratethis »

carlosjobim wrote: post #147
themagician wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social media is no longer just some activity you do. For many, it has become a way of life. Their income and livelihood relies on it. Many children growing up today aspire to be popular on social media. What happens on social media has become part of their core identity. It will only accelerate from here.

Social media has been the only open venue for young people for a while now, where the door to success is not closed and welded shut by old folks. Sure, all those likes and followers will not give them any monetary benefit to speak of, but neither does working or having a career. If it was conceivable to raise in the ranks and get good compensation and respect by hard and diligent work, young people would be very inte…

Guess where your fatalism was learned? Social media.

It's absurd to claim that working or having a career delivers no monetary benefits.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#213

Post by Bellend »

cynicalsecurity wrote: post #210
jjulius wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube designs itself to keep users (a word often used for addicts) glued (read, "engaged") to the platform. It is built to draw people in and keep them there, thereby encouraging addictive behaviors. It is absolutely a problem with YouTube.

Damn that candy store on the street corner. They deliberately put candy on the shelves, can you imagine it! So you would want to buy more! What a bunch of rascals. And don't even get me started on the fast food... It's not my fault.

Honestly, part of me wants to agree with you whole heartedly but I don't think I can. I started off saying that things like Crack, Nicotine, Alcohol... consumables are addictions. Then what about gambling though... it's not really a physical consumable. Also I have been short-term-addicted to some games, or wanted to binge watch a series, or finish a book despite knowing I have work tomorrow.

As someone who used to smoke, I can't believe that anything is as difficult as stopping smoking, but then Heroin Addicts enter the chat. So whereas to me, it seems incredible that people are addicted to content, it doesn't mean that how they feel about said content doesn't constitute a problem and where that lies on the scale for an individual is impossible to quantify from my narrow viewpoint and experience.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#214

Post by ChuckMcM »

NoPicklez wrote: post #208
ChuckMcM wrote: post #52

Great post and parts really resonate with me. I got addicted to World of Warcraft. It was contrary to my own self image that my brain could do something to me that I didn't endorse, but post WoW I recognized that it did exactly that. I started sliding down that slope with No Man's Sky but have since corrected (fortunately NMS isn't as well put together as WoW or it might have been worse). The key for me is running aw…

I think it's important to not forget that video games (in particular WoW) are fun to play. They're fun to play like its fun to play sport, exercise etc etc. They are fun to play and that on its own is a good reason to play them. Everyone has things they feel like they should be or need to be doing every day. We are allowed to do things that give us joy that take us out of the day to day, it's just whether or not thes…

You are correct, they are fun to play. The challenge is knowing that the activity has become unhealthy. Every addict that I personally know thought they had their issue under control until something helped them realize they didn't. I didn't go downstairs at my daughter's birthday when everyone there was singing and she was blowing out the candles. I didn't go because I was 'healing the raid' and me leaving probably would have resulted in a wipe. That was my "wait, what am I doing" moment.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#215

Post by carlosjobim »

iteratethis wrote: post #212
carlosjobim wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social media has been the only open venue for young people for a while now, where the door to success is not closed and welded shut by old folks. Sure, all those likes and followers will not give them any monetary benefit to speak of, but neither does working or having a career. If it was conceivable to raise in the ranks and get good compensation and respect by hard and diligent work, young people would be very inte…

Guess where your fatalism was learned? Social media. It's absurd to claim that working or having a career delivers no monetary benefits.

No monetary benefit to speak of for most of today's youth. I'm not a fatalist and i believe every person creates her own destiny. But let's be real also, the cards are heavily stacked against the youth for the great disadvantage of all of us. The so called "economy" is loosing immeasurable amounts of productivity just because the people in charge (both on a macro and micro level) have decided that they need to hold back young people.

Just compare the level of taxation on labour with the taxes on real estate or imports/exports.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#216

Post by pimlottc »

YouTube has been getting really aggressive about recommendations lately. They’re easily the majority of my homepage, and you can’t watch a single video on a new topic without getting flooded with related suggestions. Never mind there’s dozens of channels and topics I have enjoyed in the past, they rarely show up in the suggestions.

It’s gotten to the point that I use incognito mode for random video links to avoid wild swings in recommendations.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#217

Post by pimlottc »

NoPicklez wrote: post #208
ChuckMcM wrote: post #52

Great post and parts really resonate with me. I got addicted to World of Warcraft. It was contrary to my own self image that my brain could do something to me that I didn't endorse, but post WoW I recognized that it did exactly that. I started sliding down that slope with No Man's Sky but have since corrected (fortunately NMS isn't as well put together as WoW or it might have been worse). The key for me is running aw…

I think it's important to not forget that video games (in particular WoW) are fun to play. They're fun to play like its fun to play sport, exercise etc etc. They are fun to play and that on its own is a good reason to play them. Everyone has things they feel like they should be or need to be doing every day. We are allowed to do things that give us joy that take us out of the day to day, it's just whether or not thes…

They can be fun to play, but you do have to check in with yourself occasionally to make sure you’re still enjoying it.

It’s surprisingly easy to fall into a rut and just keep doing what you’ve been doing even when it’s not really doing it for you anymore.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#218

Post by [deleted] »

phone8675309 wrote: post #165
asciimov wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder if we just started talking to each other less as well. We have. Sadly people aren't allowed to be bored long enough to decide that they should see what other people are up to. It used to be common to call or even drop by unannounced to check on people. Doing these things is now seen as some great sin. It's like we are all eating plain ramen every day, and aren't getting our vitamins. Sure we are full but w…

> It used to be common to call or even drop by unannounced to check on people. This has been considered rude at least since my parents were kids in the 1950s. I would imagine it was a lot more common before the telephone at home was widespread, but I've always found turning up unannounced to be rude.

[deleted]

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#219

Post by xetplan »

phone8675309 wrote: post #165
asciimov wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder if we just started talking to each other less as well. We have. Sadly people aren't allowed to be bored long enough to decide that they should see what other people are up to. It used to be common to call or even drop by unannounced to check on people. Doing these things is now seen as some great sin. It's like we are all eating plain ramen every day, and aren't getting our vitamins. Sure we are full but w…

> It used to be common to call or even drop by unannounced to check on people. This has been considered rude at least since my parents were kids in the 1950s. I would imagine it was a lot more common before the telephone at home was widespread, but I've always found turning up unannounced to be rude.

No, this is just completely wrong and ridiculous.

People did this all the time until txting was common. Once txt was common there was no reason to just drop by someone's place randomly without giving them a heads up.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#220

Post by xetplan »

KptMarchewa wrote: post #30

For me, doing stuff like that only replaces one thing with another. If I block youtube, I'll be spending that time here. If I block HN, I'll stay on reddit. If I block reddit, I'll spend time on Skyscrapercity. The real solution seems to be having stuff in life that actually gives you self-actualization and spend least possible time at work fucking around.

Totally agree. We are social creatures. The only way I would be able to completely stop would be to hang out more at a local bar. I already go to the gym as much as my body can recover from.

At least with HN there is the possibility of something interesting and not just mindless bullshit.

Everything is relative too. I think of my World War 2 vet grandfather. He worked a mindless job, then came home and drank beer until he went to bed while watching TV.

We seem to pretend before the internet that the average person would clock out from their amazing, uplifting job and then head off to some Vienna Circle level discussion about the nature of reality.

While often falling way short, my reality is much closer to that than any of my ancestors could have ever dreamed of.

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