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0 pointsofftop54y ago0 comments

Reading a fantastic book called Digital Minimalism on this very subject.

Back when I used social media I noticed I'd be very angry arguing with people I didn't even know. Never meet anyone with a job. Deleted all that crap, moved , and had an amazing partner( she had a JOB) within a month.

Life is right here, if your at a coffee shop and you notice someone reading a book that seems interesting ask about it. Works out much more often than chatting with bots. Even when snapchatting with a "real" person, the "typing" notification felt like a raw anxiety machine. Now I only meet people in real life, text her once if she'd like to get dinner at 8 or so and then move on with my life.

Feels really good to hop off the social media hamsterwheel. Me a few years ago:

Gotta get more followers to get more likes to get more followers to get more likes to get more followers. Then maybe my matches will see how cool and popular I am. It's very much pointless. You'll never be popular enough. Without question I've removed the vast majority of stress from my life by ditching social media. Frankly my life is amazing. But if I'm staring at what other people have all day I'll never recognize it. Everyone will post 'just engaged' photos , no one is posting 'our marriage has been really rough, but I don't want to move back in with my parents'.

0 comments

earthboundkid4y ago

HN is social media.

square_usual4y ago

On that note, to today's 10,000: HN has a "noprocrast" feature that can help you break off the habit slowly. I love the defaults (20 minutes every three hours) and it's enforced across devices. Go to your profile to set it up.

TheManInThePub4y ago

> HN is social media.

Strongly disagree.

Social media is where one shares ones social life (it's in the name!). HN, like many other sites dating back to the days of USENET, is a subject discussion forum; in HN case, a technical / IT discussion forum.

Granted, there are sometimes crossovers between the two, but HN certainy isn't one of them.

NathanielK4y ago

I still crave (you)s on HN. Even though HN has no notifications or inbox. I still check my threads frequently to see if anyone has replied to me. Maybe you are happy using throw-aways and shouting into the void, but I think that is a minority.

incompatible4y ago

I don't think it would qualify, since there's no connection between users' profiles. You can't set up a "friends" list, or any other kind of group.

the_af4y ago

I must agree with the parent commenter: HN is social media.

Oh, maybe it's not exactly like facebook or Twitter, but it ticks so many other boxes.

I could list many, and argue about them (arguing: another staple of social media), but the most important to me is that HN is effectively a procrastination tool, and it's associated with that mental "fix" of instant gratification.

It's different from facebook in that HN is more heavily moderated and more focused, but other than that, it triggers the same kind of (bad) habits, at least in my case.

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briefcomment4y ago

Regardless of whether it's social media or not, HN is a huge digital waste of time. Try to think of more than 10 posts that really improved your life over the years. Now realize that you probably look at more than 50 HN posts a day. I would spend much less time on HN, but it's an addiction, like most things digital.

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swiley4y ago

Yeah and I would have deleted it along with my other accounts if it weren't for the "no procrast" feature too.

XorNot4y ago

Someone reading a book at a coffee shop probably doesn't want to be bothered by someone asking about it.

jasonkester4y ago

It’s fun watching people raised in a world where all communication happens on a screen dismissing the things people used to do to communicate as impossible.

I do it myself. Even though I spent half my life in a word where the only way to talk to a friend was to pick up a phone and dial their number, today’s Jason recoils violently from the idea of doing something so rude and invasive as that.

So just in case: in a previous world, sitting in a prominent place doing superficial activity such as reading, smoking, or looking at a phone screen was a signal that one was open to casual conversation.

silicon24014y ago

> So just in case: in a previous world, sitting in a prominent place doing superficial activity such as reading, smoking, or looking at a phone screen was a signal that one was open to casual conversation.

That's not universally true. To my understanding, places like Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland), Japan, and Russia have historically had cultures that don't encourage randomly walking up to strangers and striking up a conversation.

11235813214y ago

They will either not look up, or quickly answer and go back to the book if so. It’s okay if that happens.

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