Ask HN: Are you an information addict? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Are you an information addict?

121 pointsghotli59 comments

Do you check your phone too much? HN? Digg? Your email?

Are there things you really need to do rather than sit here and read HN?

What are you doing to deal with this?

  My friends all think
    that I'm a neb
  Cause I spend much time
    here on the web

  The good things here
    I do not abuse
  Except lots of time
    on hacker news
  
  I don't read reddit
    I will not digg
  I'm not on facebook
    My work's too big

  I do not text
    I do not tweet
  I just work on
    Things that are neat

  I check email
    throughout the day
  But there are no games
    that I will play
    
  My phone's on vibrate
    I do not chat
  My work is really
    Where it's at  
  
  Knuth and Turing
    are my big heroes
  I love to move
    Ones and zeros
   
  My head is down
    I'm in the mode
  Don't bother me
    I have to code
    
  Those who need me
    leave voicemail
  I'm much too busy
    trying not to fail
    
  I learn on-line
    and from my schools
  But I must avoid
    all sorts of trolls
    
  I can't believe
    I wrote this ode
  When I have so much
    I have to code
    
  I'm not an addict
    I have no drug
  I've got to go
    To fix a bug

I know a simple upvote is the way to show appreciation here, but this was too good to leave at it. Excellent! Captures a lot of nuances well.

Out of some odd synchronization, I read this comment while Last.FM was playing some old folk crooner delimiting his life over a music-less backdrop.

Yes. I find myself consuming more and more material that contains information that is more and more trivial.

Today's haul: found out the name and life story of the guy who played "Hoss" on Bonanza. Read an essay on tax policies in a state several hundred miles from my own. Went through an extended interview (linked from here) about life in North Korea. Researched various types of pulse oximeters. And that's just in the last couple of hours.

At one point in my life I would have thought "I have a voracious appetite for new knowledge. This is a good thing" But lately I'm seeing this in not-as-flattering terms. I'm more or less picking up little shiny things simply because they glitter. There's no depth or follow-through. There's no long-range goal of acquiring knowledge in any one area. It's all just stimulus-response.

My goodness, you have opened my eyes on the problem I didn't know existed. Time to research infotherapy.

That's exactly how I feel too. The worst part is that when I think about the cool stuff I read in the last few weeks, there's really little information I can remember.

Sounds similar to pure science, which often ends up finding a use (you know that mathematician who deliberately choose an abstract area with no applications so that it would never end up being used for military purposes - and it was)

It's testable: has anything in the past week (say) turned out to be useful in a way that you didn't expect at the time? (hindsight may obscure how useless it seemed before) Of course it might take much longer for its use to appear. Sometimes indirect, eg you learn concepts/principles from taxes in another state, which later help you understand your own state's tax policies (or something else altogether).

I am embracing it. I am trying to create a life that will allow me to gather information all day long and get paid to do it.

How are you doing it? Care to elaborate?

I suppose one way to do it would be to become a celebrity blogger.

Sure. I identified the kinds of information I like (business and technology). Then I identified the skills I have (technology). Then I tried to find a niche that seemed underserved and combined my interest, skills and met an additional goal of teaching me something new. I'll be posting a link to my site in a few days here at HN - sort of as an official launch.

That's essentially what I did - given my mild obsession with figuring out how businesses work, I read thousands of books over ~6 years, started a website (personalmba.com), created a 12-week course (crashcourse.personalmba.com), took on private clients, and landed a book deal.

I'm essentially paid to learn as much as I can, isolate the useful/practical bits, then teach them to others. If learning comes naturally to you, figuring out how to teach what you know to people who want to learn it can be profitable and enjoyable. I left my job a year and a half ago to do this full time, and would never go back.

How did you get into this line of work? If I could get paid just to learn things and share them with others that were truly motivated to learn, I'd be set for life.

I was learning anyway, but after a while I realized that the main ideas were very valuable, could help people get what they want (start new businesses, get a raise, get promoted, etc.), and that people would be willing to pay for services that helped them get those things.

Starting a blog with a unique name helped the idea spread and allowed me to build an e-mail list. I also started offering coaching services via a free initial consultation - I talk with coaching prospects for an hour with no obligation, then set up an arrangement to meet regularly if we were a good fit. Coaching alone allowed me to quit my day job.

The e-mail list made it easier to test various ways to serve people who found it interesting enough to sign up. The 12-week course tested very well, so I spend ~3 months developing it. Initial signups brought in enough money to pay off all business startup expenses (computers, cameras, software, etc) and pay off all family debts. Everything the business brings in from now on is 90%+ profit, which is a good feeling.

If you can find an intersection between what you like to learn about and knowledge people will be willing to pay you for, you'll be set for life. All you need to do is focus on putting your knowledge into some form people will pay for, then ensure prospective customers find it.

There are lots of folks out there who have managed to do exactly that. They're called consultants, gurus, etc. It's not as simple as just learning stuff, teaching it, and getting paid, but if you love doing those things it's certainly a way to make a living at it.

Among the keys to pulling this off includes finding information that people are motivated to pay you to teach them. Unfortunately, most of the obvious things that pass this test are pretty well-covered by slimy folks that can outsell most of us (how to make money in real estate, how to pick folks up at the bar, etc.).

But anything you know that other people know that they want to know can be made to work. To get started, you have to start proving that you're an expert at what you want to be paid to teach. Start making high-quality contributions on forums that discuss what you want to teach. Attend conferences. (Self-)publish a book.

You'll have to act like everyone knows you're an expert even in the early days before everyone knows. But eventually you'll get there if you're patient, smart, and just the right amount of self-aggrandizing.

I am an information addict as well.

I get annoyed, when I've already browsed through the HN frontpage and nothing new turns up upon refresh. At those times I wonder if the amount of really interesting, insightful and fresh(!) material produced on the web is still quite limited or if we aren't doing a good enough job of surfacing it according to everyones individual taste.

I like long periods of being offline.

Still, looking for information is a common way of procrastinating. So for me spending too much time on HN is an indication that I'm pushing away something to do which actually bores me.

The best way to deal with it is to finish that boring thing and switch into doing something exciting and get "into the phase" with new task.

Sport helps also.

I like and admire community here, you are talented and insightful people, still I've had the best experience here when I just was absorbing information after long periods of being offline and the time I spent here was planned. Also, it was best when I hang around here at the end of the day, not by the morning coffee.

Reading news/email/whatever by the morning coffee, while tempting, is actually harmful for my focus needed to perform things after the coffee. Sad but true.

I'm a massive information addict. The problem is that there are always things that need to be done.

I'm going to google information addiction now, see you in a week.

I believe there are different types of information addiction. Checking email and IM too frequently is hardly likely to benefit you, but reading Wikipedia and articles related to your profession, for example, can give you a serious edge.

Be addicted to information "assets" and drop the ephemeral stuff.

Definitely an info addict here, in your terms... I like to think I let that information come to me through email, one of the only mediums I check and if not, I let my natural curiousity drive me. However, rather than an addict, which might be acceptable, I prefer to call it a case of being a human sponge. I consider the stimulation of my brain to be a great exercise and therefore of great importance, having learned it from a late family member through anecdotal evidence of them having lived a very long and intelligent life. Of course, even too much of a good thing can be bad, so a healthy balance should be encouraged.

I can't help but point to this: http://www.ehow.com/how_2070387_keep-aging-brain-active.html

Scroll down to where it says "Exercise the Brain". While I believe the 1st notation is obvious - exercise both body and brain of which I do to deal with it, not everyone has the energy to keep a regular physical regiment. However, I practically endorse #2: Keep your brain active every day. Play trivia games, do crossword puzzles, word games or read daily. and #3: Start something new to challenge your brain. Take up a brand new hobby, learn a new language or write a book. Get on the computer and research something that interests you, like genealogy or your family history.

To answer your question, sitting here and being an info addict are quite possibly two different things. It's all about prioritization and balance - in that case maybe a better question might be: could one instead be a HN addict?

I accept that some people, perhaps even most people, are fully immune to anything like Internet addiction. If you're one of those people, great. I envy you. But I can say from first-hand experience that compulsive Internet use ("Internet addiction" is a casual misnomer at best) is real. Further, I very strongly suspect that low-latency Internet connections, up-to-the-minute news and blogs, and social sharing of content have exacerbated such compulsions by enabling and rewarding rapid-fire consumption and shallow analysis of content.

I doubt these inventions are the only cause of Internet compulsion, but they encourage it in people who have pre-existing compulsive tendencies. Analogously, gambling addiction is known to be caused by excessive dopaminergic activity in the brain, but that doesn't change the fact there would be less of it if there were no casinos.

Many studies show ( http://bit.ly/deum0v ) that compulsive Internet use responds to the same sorts of medications used to treat OCD, namely SSRI antidepressants. You might want to consider speaking with a doctor if your use is really that severe. For me, they have helped considerably.

I am an information addict.

I am making things worse by compulsively reading blog posts on low information diet: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/category/low-informatio...

Information is mostly just noise. The actual useful stuff comes rarely, so I try as much as possible to minimize the external information I get that is not important - for example, the news. The news are mostly totally unimportant and irrelevant. If you read the news twice a week, that's more than fine.

I also believe in using tools that pre/filter the info I get so I don|t have to wade through junk to read the info that could be useful to me.

Information gathering can be a big time waste with no direct benefit. But it\s addictive, and hence dangerous.

"I also believe in using tools that pre/filter the info I get so I don|t have to wade through junk to read the info that could be useful to me."

Care to elaborate on your methods?

Nothing spectacular - I don't subscribe to blogs or forums or newssites, just to news aggregators that allow some form of voting then only read the highest ranked stuff.

I think what you're getting at is that information by itself isn't necessarily useful, but knowledge is.

I consider myself to be an information addict. I spend probably half of my day, everyday, reading news/blogs/books.

The real trick is to not just consume information, but to digest it. I.e. don't merely eat a lot, make sure you have a high [information] metabolism. Understand what you read and share what you understand.

I decided that I'm happiest when I'm learning, so why fight it? I quit my job a year ago, and since then have managed to channel my information addiction to create a very satisfying lifestyle consulting and building my own companies with the information I've learned (and continue to learn).

I guess so: I just read all the comments in this thread :/

I'm addicted to the feeling I get when I split my focus into a thousand different streams. Yoga seems to be the only remedy for the 54 tabs I currently have open.

When I'm away from my computer for an extended time I feel better physically and spiritually. I also get nothing done. We need to treat these machines with the respect we give hallucinogens and power tools.

"We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom" - Edward Osborne Wilson

That's something I keep in my mind while I'm coding my one-man-startup project. We have a large amount of information disponible but not enough time to consume it, or even we don't get relevant stuff to read. I've been researching NLP, Semantics and TextMining since university but never faced a real word problem to work with.

My actual project register your interests based on your previous bookmarked/visited websites and suggests summarized content from mainstream information hubs like digg, reddit and HN.

Once I get my cloud/infrastructure done with hackspace, I will release a beta test for the first 2^8 pigraph's twitter follower.

http://pigraph.com/

I am an information addict as long as there isn't anything more interesting that demands my time. If there's something that I need to work on, it had better be thrilling.

I am trying to use the Pomodoro technique - focus hard for 25 minutes, then relax for 5. This of course requires closing down mail, Twitter etc apps while a Pomodor is running.

Unfortunately I still have problems, it is far too easy to open up a browser window and start looking at Hacker News, Digg, Engadget etc. I am thinking about making my own Pomodoro script which puts all my favourite timewasting sites in /etc/hosts where I can't reach them.

If you're on OS X, check out Concentrate:

http://getconcentrating.com/

I second using the Pomodoro technique - without it, writing my book would've taken 3+ years instead of one.

The key is to change the structure of your environment to support the Pomodoro as much as possible. Turn off everything not directly related to what you're doing - phone, internet, etc.

I used Freedom (http://macfreedom.com/) to completely disable my internet access for 6 hours at a time when I scheduled a day to write. If I didn't disable the internet, I'd waste hours doing "research" when the going got tough. Without any net access, I was able to persist through the hard parts and write a huge amount in a day.

The pomodoro technique seems like allowing yourself a hit of heroin every few days, even though you know it's a problem. I've never been able to follow it for long enough for it to be effective. Any tips?

I guess you should try to see every time you fail to do a Pomodoro what it was that caused you to lose focus, and seek to eliminate that distraction.

For me, losing flow due to long compile times, having to download libraries or something is a sure focus killer.

And as I said, just idle web browsing is a problem that I should try to take care of. :)

I believe RescueTime will block certain websites for certain amounts of time. So you could keep Pandora open while all other sites are blocked. Although you have to pay $6/mo to get the feature.

I am definitely an info addict, but I have been working on turning that into being a knowledge addict instead. I've been trying for ~2 months, and so far here is what I am doing:

First I have set up an intense learning regime for myself, my first 'semester' is on the basics in a lot of different subjects. (math, physics, nutrition, fitness, programming theory, gardening, writing, photography, chemistry, taoism, buddhism, carpentry and a few others)

Second I have worked up a basic triage system for dealing with all of the information that I have flowing to me: 1st off is it of interest or not, is yes then why? For entertainment or for knowledge? If it is for entertainment then I will read it if I have accomplished my learning goals for the day, if not, oh well, into the trash. If its for knowledge then does it apply to one of my learning topics? If not, then bookmarked for a rainy day or another semester.

For the stuff that applies to one of my current learning topics I apply the methodology from "How to read a book" (recommended to me by someone here, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to read to go from "understanding less to understanding more") and scan it to see if and where it has a place in my learning network/schedule, then put it into my learning tracking database for integration into this or a later semester depending on how it fits.

Its been an interesting couple of months, and I will start blogging about how this process is coming along. After a bit of a wobbly start, and a hard time finding good resources on how to make self-guided learning more efficient I am starting to see good progress in my learning, feel more comfortable with my online consumption and am really starting to make some progress on my start-up ideas and just my life in general.

Define "too much," please. :P

I research things I'm interested in and passionate about. I want to know more. I'm an infosec guy by career and I can tell you that there is no way one can master all aspects of it. This should come as no surprise to entrepreneurs, developers, or geeks in general, really.

I'm currently interested in learning more about computer forensics. I have basic knowledge, but want to familiarize myself better with the methods, tools, and tricks of the trade. As usual, I also want to understand the counter of that -- anti-forensics technologies.

All the while, I surround myself with other bits of infosec news and knowledge, industry thought leaders, document what I play with, and eventually write about it to share it with others. There's no sense being a hoarder of information. Sometimes I come up with something genuinely unique. Other times, I feel like more of a curator.

I have other interests as well: bicycling, mechanical repair (think: automotive, appliance, etc) just to name a few. I'm equally as passionate about those things as well, and spend a good deal of my time learning about those things and putting them to practice.

I highly agree with the notion that one shouldn't deny one's weaknesses, and instead try to turn them into strengths (as raheemm and joshkaufman have written in this thread). This question, "Are you an information addict?" came at an opportune time, as I just finished reading this gem from Neil Postman, titled "Informing Ourselves to Death."

The talk looks at disruptive technologies, but points out that there are "losers" as well as "winners" when these emerge, and proceeds to explain why information has become nearly meaningless. His conclusions are in direct conflict with what I imagine many people here believe about the boon computers and information have provided to the world, but his argument is an interesting one, and hopefully it will challenge the way you think about this "Information Age."

It can be read here: http://www.mat.upm.es/~jcm/postman-informing.html

[edit: found a better copy to link to]

I only consume Hacker News via a summarizing service which gives only "top" Hacker News links. I skim my FriendFeed when I don't have time to read in depth, and don't have a problem _not_ clicking on things. I keep my FriendFeed relatively spartan; if a blog, feed, or tweetstream doesn't provide at least 50% interesting posts, I don't follow it. HN is the only linkroll / news site I follow. At the day job, I set my email client to download new mail only once every hour, so the "you've got mail" systray icon won't distract me too often. If it's important enough, someone will show up in person to ask whether I received the email they sent. Only a small set of people ever phone me with any regularity, and I like it that way.

My problem is I read a lot, I am open mind to a very wide variety of subjects. I like reading and I know I am not alone with that, here on HN. The main question is: do you use those information somewhere else or it just sticks in your brain for some later usage? Even if I am focused only on information that I am intrested with it is _too__much_ to gather everything. So, filtering. Still too much. Maybe it's time to switch internet off? There will be always something interesting to read/watch/listen but what will you do on blackout?

Two things:

1. I kinda thought I was, then I left for a one month road trip with limited connectivity. When I did have connectivity, I checked email, local news, and HN, and that was it. I had no urge to keep up with anything else. It was kinda nice.

2. In his _Technological Society_, Jacques Ellul writes the following: "We are constrained to be 'engaged,' as the existentialists say, with technique." Though this was written over 40 years ago, it very much describes our current information age.

The only thing that seems to consistently work for me is disabling my internet connection. Freedom (http://macfreedom.com/) is what I've used. Apparently it costs $10 now, but also works on both Windows and OS X.

With linux, I expect it would be fairly simple to write a script that did the same thing, though I don't know how it would get enforced.

I absolutely am an information addict. I've known that about myself for a whole, and I've tended to embrace it. Information addiction is a facet of a love of learning; to love information simply for the sake of information is somewhat useless, but to love it for the sake of learning, growing, and enriching oneself is a noble goal, I think.

I'm mostly an information addict when I'm coding in long stretches. What works for me is taking breaks from focusing on logic, just any sort of different mental direction. That's where HN comes in really handy, and as a matter of fact it's how I came to be on this thread.

I just realized I'm an information addict today while reading The 4 hour workweek.

I think I'm going to start by moving my mail icon away from my iphone homescreen, and setting up a few push reminders to ask whether I am focusing on what I want to do and not wasting time.

this said, i've realized that these days I spend more time reading entrepreneurship HN/mixergy/kalzumeus/etc. than checking any local/us news anymore.

Yes. In my case, it's an avoidance strategy. Avoiding things I am scared of, but actually enjoy when I get into them. I'm learning a better way to relate to that fear.

I read so much and retain so little. Everything new pushes out something old. Jason Calcanis might be a dick. I'm still working on my conclusion about that.

I am an information addict, and this is what HN makes me do: http://www.benjamincoe.com/tetris/

:-)

No, you are not. You're just another professional procrastinator ;)

Dammit, that just wasted an hour of my life.

Life's a constant struggle against stimulus.

I prefer the term infovore

A long time ago I turned from effective use of the Internet into a consuming mood. Consuming information. “Enough is enough” doesn't play any role on the Internet. You will never consume enough information and there's always something new to discover. Most of the time the information you read will not add anything to your knowledge, or your productivity. Don't blame the Internet, understand that it is all your fault. If you are a person who likes to procrastinate, prefer to read than to act, you will easily fell in the traps of the Internets. Personally these are my solutions to handle the problem;

If you think something is an interesting read, skim it(or in other words, scan it for useful information), bookmark it for later. And probably you will never spent a lot of time on the article . And if a need for this article pops in your head, you can easily find it back.

Never use on-line documentation for studying or as a reference when doing something productive on the computer. Always download the necessary files (pdfs online) beforehand. Prepare you for your task, collect the information on line but when starting the task: just switch of the Internet, even better don't have any physical connection with the web.

I love a minimalistic desktop, remove the webbrowsers' icons on your desktop or any menu panel. Just start your browser with a keyboard shortcut. The inviting sweet internet entrances, which you're conditioned to press when you want to avoid a task or need an information kick are gone. Recondition yourself when using the new shortcuts: Think about the purpose you want to use the web and what time you want to spent on that task.

You never spent time a lot of time consuming useful information, because you will directly apply this information to anything productive. With the Internet, you find the stuff you want in a glance. The problem is information you're consuming, the interesting stuff you want to read, all the stuff what's coming in an endless stream.

Don't read any opinionated stuff published on an obscure web blog written by an obscure person without any (productive) accomplishments. Probably you won't miss anything useful.

Just check your favorite websites daily, preferably weekly. Try to optimize the interval between visits. If you follow some interesting people or blogs, which doesn't publish daily, just subscribe to the feed using your email.

Allow yourself time on the Internet to do and read anything you like,after work and just set yourself a time limit. Because overall for me the internet is a great discovery mechanism, which increases my productivity. But do it consciously.

Most of the time I don't use the Internet dominantly when I'm sitting beyond my screen. I always need it for something I want to do.

PS I only use Facebook is an interactive address book, twitter to follow some interesting persons and Gtalk/AOl for colleagues, when working on a project.

developing recommendation systems.

This seems to be the approach du jour to 'curing information overload', but a recommendation system typically manifests itself as yet another information source. In my experience, they always exacerbate the problem.

No.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com