Hacker News Reader

Comment by originalvichy | Hacker News Reader

I definitely have a browsing addiction. Learning things as an information junkie is addictive. What’s funny is that when I go for trips in the mountains with little to no internet I do fine. It is less like a chemical addiction and more like a habitual craving. If I have more interesting things to do I will not browse. If I’m bored though...

View on HN

Habits are related to our environment. Your brain is probably wired to your current living arrangements and taking a vacation- with the added caveat that you know you have no internet- means no behaviors. This is why people can easily get sober in rehab and then come home and instantly relapse.

I actually used this tactic to break some habits when I moved. New living place did not trigger the same habits as the prior one, so long as I was careful to not "install" them again...

I experienced this. When I moved, my sloppiness and classiness improved tremendously. However, I've recently started to notice it getting back into its old ways now that I'm more settled. The benefit is that I'm much more aware of it, and am able to recognize it and address it instead of never noticing it to begin with.

Reminds me of the experiments on rats, where they couldn't even convince them to try heroin (-laced water) if they were living in a natural environment, whereas the rats stuck in cages became addicted to heroin immediately.

For anyone interested in learning more, search for “rat park”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park

and be sure not to miss the Criticisms section of that Wiki.

Extraordinary results, but even the author's graduate student had difficulty replicating them.

Sadly that fun story was mostly discredited

>Learning things

Ha ha! That is a VERY generous way to describe it.

I think of it as licking my balls. I think that's more realistic.

> I definitely have a browsing addiction.

I agree. I think what most people have are "News" or information Addiction. Where as news is any update on Social Media, Current Trends on Pop, Music, Movies, Tech, Politics, Economics etc.

There were a few research paper suggesting News being the biggest addiction, much more so than porn. And Smartphone addiction is by nature an extension of this news addiction.

Did my Idol post something on IG?

Did my soccer / football team sign a new centre back?

Did Apple finally released a new Keyboard with more travel distances?

Did X finally win the election?

Did TSLA just broke though the channel and continue their gain in stock market?

New Covid Variant?

Is there a confirmation email for my job? Or you know somehow you are expected to reply your email within 30min with your current employer.

A lot of these are preying on our human curiosity. And Smartphone is only a Terminal, where Internet / Mobile Network is the connection. It is the same before Smartphone with Internet on PC, or good old fashion TV.

We dont have an addiction to any of these devices, we have addiction to those content. And it has been like for that decades, blaming everything on Smartphone is simple and easy enough. But doesn't really help with the real problem.

This is how I got hooked. As someone who grew up pre-internet (realistically speaking) my brain learned to live with libraries, paper calendar, tasks lists on pads of paper, etc. Also, not knowing if someone called until I got home (and not having answering machines or, sometimes, not having a phone in the apartment I lived in, or TV).

When I got access to the Internet, the idea that I could learn things easily, or have a digital calendar, or write messages just removed so much friction. I was working as a cook but getting back into programming as a hobby at the time (started as a kid with BASIC on Commodore computers then didn't have a computer for almost ten years). I first used the K&R book to learn C but the Internet provided access to things outside the scope of the book.

Then, working as a programmer a few years later, I told my boss I'd hit a stretch goal if he got me an iphone to replace my flip phone. I use Android now, it was a different time. :)

Once I got that, it was 24/7. I'm finding balance now but it's tough. I am concious of my six year old always seeing me and emulating my behavior.

Are you learning specific things for a passion, hobby, or job or learning random facts and TILs?

I’m not the OP, but for me it’s a mix, usually aligning more toward the latter, just like this post which was delivered to me as a notification.

Some of it definitely is TIL triggered reading, but most of it is news related ”keep up with the world”.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com