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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

#91

Post by sizzle »

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…

Practicing mindfulness/mediation and breathing techniques has taught me you can break the cycle of being a slave to whatever your brain is craving at any given moment. Don't knock it until you've tried it for a while...

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

#92

Post by nostrademons »

fredsir wrote: post #61
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 was the same before. I could get myself to sit down with a book and read, and wanted to, very much actually, but could only stomach it for 15-20 minutes. Then I was looking for the next dopamine fix. And not every day. It was a bit boring, really, compared to all the things I "learned" from just skimming hacker news. It took a long time, but now I can easily read for an hour. My normal routine now is to wake up an…

I've found that there's a "hump" where reading a book where I get bored and want to do something else after 15-20 minutes, but if I'm really engrossed and stick that out, I can find myself literally reading all night long, for hours at a time, until I finish the book. (I'm someone who tends to finish books in 1-2 sittings; I never really understood folks like my mom who'll read for 15 minutes a day and nurse a book for months.)

For that matter, programming's like that too. After a 15-20 minute chunk I'll usually feel a strong urge to go check HN (clearly, I'm in one of those now). If I can resist that urge enough, and have long enough blocks of time (challenging with a kid now), I can find myself coding for several hours straight until I finish the change I was working on.

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

#93

Post by thrw374747 »

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…

A bit cheeky to marginalize drugs to data, eh? Data won’t cause you to lose 3 days of work.

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

#94

Post by mythrwy »

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 built this awhile ago for that exact purpose.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/attention-budget/a...

It hasn't fully solved the issue because sometimes I cheat but it helps.

https://github.com/genuineBuildMonkey/attention-budget

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

#95

Post by WheelsAtLarge »

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 second this. At one time, I thought that I was improving myself by getting new information but the reality is that I crave new information just because. It hasn't been until lately that I have concluded that information for the sake of information is useless. Reading a book is just entertainment unless you put the new knowledge into action. Reading news articles is only useful if they help you in some way.

Also, putting knowledge into action does not feel as good as getting a quick hit of news. But over the long run reducing the amount of new information and doing something with what you learn makes you happier and more satisfied with your life.

If you haven't figured this out yet, keep this in mind before you get lost in a sea of information without a goal. Think of a junkie always looking for the next hit. Except that it's news not a drug.

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

#96

Post by arkades »

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…

An honest question: do you think it’s the information-seeking behavior that is the problem, or that the information-seeking is a manifestation of a different behavior (e.g., procrastination)?

I find that with a lot of people it’s procrastination. There’s no information block thorough enough to address procrastination; it finds a way. It has to be addressed directly.

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

#97

Post by [deleted] »

mthoms wrote: post #76
Zealotux wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While Stack Overflow is great for solving issues, I still had to block the "Hot Network Questions" suggestions from the sidebar because it was an almost systematic distraction that would inevitably send me down a rabbit-hole of unrelated questions. Any system designed to solve the attention problem will have to be opinionated, blocking specific websites, or at least parts of it, I guess it's an interesting case study…

I did this as well and it definitely helped. For Stack Overflow I've also removed the left sidebar entirely and upped the minimum width of the main content (so code doesn't get cut off nearly as much). Another helpful one was removing the "next page" links on Reddit (I use the classic version). That way I can check on some things I'm interested in, but not get carried away. I'm considering doing the same for Hacker N…

[deleted]

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

#98

Post by Fjolsvith »

ketzo wrote: post #26
xchaotic wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you decide what to block? Wikipedia or Stack Overflow can be extremely useful but you can waste time there as easily as on Facebook, Twitter or Hacker News.

Feeds. Gotta block feeds out of your life. The never-ending treadmill of new information is what's really problematic, at least for me.

I just stick to HN. I run out of new things to look at after about 45 minutes on it.

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

#99

Post by 83457 »

f_allwein wrote: post #83
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…

There is https://freedom.to/ , which seems to be remarkably successful at charging people to cut off (all our some of) their internet access...

Was going to post about Freedom. Works pretty well and since sessions can be timed it can be used as a pomodoro timer.

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

#100

Post by techslave »

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'm surprised there isn't a serious accessible product

But there is! $5 timer on your wireless router.

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