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Comment by Red_Tarsius | Hacker News Reader

What you wrote really resonated with me. 'Destruction of the ego' is the most fitting description of that lifestyle. The Internet is the key. You need that drip-feed of sounds, colors, shapes 24/7 to drown your inner voice. You can't stand being with yourself. It's isomorphic to other addictions, like slot machines or alcohol.

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I don't know of any 'solution' to this (if one agrees it is something to be solved), though to deal with your inner voice, it's best to listen to it, and I think that meditation can be a good way to do that.

Sometimes I'm arguing on HN or imageboards etc. and I think that to wind down from it all, to realise the impermanence of it, it's good to meditate, noticing the thoughts that appear in your mind. No distractions, music etc.

In my opinion, required military service for 1-2 years post high school (or deferred until after University) can help mitigate it. I don't have any facts to back up my claim but an environment that has guaranteed work, physical fitness requirements and is heavily team based hits a lot of points. While not a perfect solution, I don't see it discussed often.

An environment where you are being taken care of for every aspects of your life: when to wake up, what to do, what to eat, how to dress, how to talk, when to relax and when to get to sleep again ? Problems would get back as soon as one gets out I am afraid.

Work ethic can make a huge difference though. To one degree or another we all slowly figure out what to do with our lives. Doing it with a drive that's been drilled into you can be a blessing, and a lot of the lessons apply well throughout life; cleanliness, routine sleep schedules, being respectful.

I think there are a lot of potential issues with service, but if you're feeling lost in life, at least you can pick up some habits that should help long term.

You're not being taken care of. You don't learn to make all of your own choices, but it was exactly that problem that destroyed me. I suddenly had all of these responsibilities and decisions and things I had to deal with alone, and I ended up throwing away my full scholarship to a private school by playing WoW all day instead, surrounded by coke bottles in a dorm room.

Military discipline would have been great for me because I would have had some functional baseline. Unfortunately, there is no analogue to "just join the military" for the disabled.

.. and a large amount of bullying, harassment and occasional suicide problems?

(seriously, "bring back national service, but I don't have any facts" is a terrible argument for HN)

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