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The New Smoking (2021)

conorbroderick.net

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Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#41

Post by eastbound »

DerekBickerton wrote: post #16

If you like this article, I would suggest reading these too: I Don’t Want to Be an Internet Person: https://www.palladiummag.com/2022/11/04/i-dont-want-to-be-an... The Internet is Made of Demons: https://www.damagemag.com/2022/04/21/the-internet-is-made-of... When traveling, I carry a dumb phone, specifically a Nokia feature phone that doesn't even connect to The Internet. The only distraction on it is the Tetris app…

Serious question and not snarky (despite appearances): How come you comment on HN? It looks like it falls in addictive experiences, albeit maybe necessary to keep on top of IT news. If the theory of “quitting” was right, we wouldn’t see anyone commenting about quitting while still online. I’m asking because I wonder how to keep on top of things / what part should news-reading take in my less-dopamine life.

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#42

Post by ekanes »

guntars wrote: post #35
737min wrote: post #10

All true. It’s not free of government involvement however... Notable is the mention of TikTok, which supplies CCP-curated content that differs by country. https://www.cbsnews.com/video/tiktok-in-china-versus-the-uni...

Wasn’t this debunked? Kids in China, when asked what they want to be when they grow up, overwhelmingly say influencer.

How does that debunk the concept of CCP-curated content?

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#43

Post by leetbulb »

saiya-jin wrote: post #39
leetbulb wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having worked in related industries, I've always referred to this as the "dopamine / reward loop" (I think this is fairly well accepted?). Some people are predisposed to hardcore exploitation (e.g. gambling addicts), but from what I understand, and generally speaking, we're all capable of falling victim to some degree (we're all susceptible to some level of superfluous dopamine response). Not helping, industry shapin…

> should be regulated in some way, at least up until a certain age. Its called proper parenting. As a father of little 2 miracles, I can clearly see how easily they get addicted to basically everything-screen, and many more things like junk food. And its 1-way road. The hard part is going into full relentless battle with your own children who will use various psychological tricks, just like adult addicts, to get thei…

Totally agree. I cannot imagine how difficult it is for modern parents to manage this issue. By "regulated" I did mean 90% parenting, but it's also a larger, systemic societal issue that needs to be at least considered, quickly, before the current generation(s) who realize it no longer have influence and the issue solidifies as normal in our culture.

On the other hand, it's probably just the, albeit sad, natural order.

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#44

Post by saiya-jin »

737min wrote: post #10

All true. It’s not free of government involvement however... Notable is the mention of TikTok, which supplies CCP-curated content that differs by country. https://www.cbsnews.com/video/tiktok-in-china-versus-the-uni...

Heck, even pornhub shows you different content in different countries... at least a friend told me so.

I guess CCP involvment is guaranteed in some form, but I would expect rather light touch and strong monitoring. To spot dissent early and weed it out in the roots. And to have something for blackmails on everybody in future.

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#45

Post by ekanes »

Something that’s helped in a “high leverage” way is interrupting the impulse to open an app that takes me into glazed eyes territory, or “licking the phone” as I describe it to my kids. :)

None of the kids actually want to waste time on social media… but we all still struggle with it. I ran across an (iOS) app that they've come to accept and even appreciate. Rather than blocking apps completely, it adds a pause of maybe 8 seconds; enough time to take a breath and maybe your higher self gets a word in edgewise. It’s free (though I think you pay for more apps) and it’s called “One Sec”. Installing it requires a few steps, but I found myself opening Youtube much less so the next day was “ok kids, bring me your phone.”

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#46

Post by Yajirobe »

rhacker wrote: post #2

I mean he's right. At some point if we're just robots playing candy crush or watching tiktok after tiktok - what's the real downside of just matrixing our society. I mean yes there are people that still skateboard or ski or hike, but if the population that finds meaning in activities disappears in the next 100 years, there's no reason to have physical anything. Might as well call it or fight back.

Not disagreeing with you, but what determines that skiing or hiking is more 'valuable' or more worthy of spending time on than candy crush or tiktok?

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#47

Post by bad416f1f5a2 »

I’m reminded of the moral panic my parents generation had around televisions.

And their parents generation had over serialized plays on the radio.

And several generations removed, the panic over the printing press.

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#48

Post by leetbulb »

saiya-jin wrote: post #44
737min wrote: post #10

All true. It’s not free of government involvement however... Notable is the mention of TikTok, which supplies CCP-curated content that differs by country. https://www.cbsnews.com/video/tiktok-in-china-versus-the-uni...

Heck, even pornhub shows you different content in different countries... at least a friend told me so. I guess CCP involvment is guaranteed in some form, but I would expect rather light touch and strong monitoring. To spot dissent early and weed it out in the roots. And to have something for blackmails on everybody in future.

> Heck, even pornhub shows you different content in different countries... at least a friend told me so.

This is true, and even more fine grained. All content driven industries optimize their delivery to target audiences.

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#49

Post by whiplash451 »

bad416f1f5a2 wrote: post #47

I’m reminded of the moral panic my parents generation had around televisions. And their parents generation had over serialized plays on the radio. And several generations removed, the panic over the printing press .

Early usage of TVs consisted in living the tv set turned on constantly, which in the hindsight was insane. With time, we learned to « master » the technology that was put in our hands. Much along the lines of what this article points out.

Re: The New Smoking (2021)

#50

Post by DerekBickerton »

eastbound wrote: post #41
DerekBickerton wrote: post #16

If you like this article, I would suggest reading these too: I Don’t Want to Be an Internet Person: https://www.palladiummag.com/2022/11/04/i-dont-want-to-be-an... The Internet is Made of Demons: https://www.damagemag.com/2022/04/21/the-internet-is-made-of... When traveling, I carry a dumb phone, specifically a Nokia feature phone that doesn't even connect to The Internet. The only distraction on it is the Tetris app…

Serious question and not snarky (despite appearances): How come you comment on HN? It looks like it falls in addictive experiences, albeit maybe necessary to keep on top of IT news. If the theory of “quitting” was right, we wouldn’t see anyone commenting about quitting while still online. I’m asking because I wonder how to keep on top of things / what part should news-reading take in my less-dopamine life.

> How come you comment on HN?

Just for the record, karma is a useless metric to me. It gives visibility into how one of my submissions performs, but that's it. I don't chase karma.

> It looks like it falls in addictive experiences

Addiction is when a thing controls you, and you don't control it. I am in charge of my experience here on HN, and as I said, I don't chase upvotes & karma.

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