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Comment by spansoa | Hacker News Reader

I enjoy mindlessly scrolling social media when waiting for the bus. It takes my mind off the banality of doing that. It also makes time go by quicker, which is what you want when waiting for anything.

I don't agree with this current wave of demonisation of smartphones. If you want you can flash a Pixel with LineageOS and install a bunch of FOSS apps from F-Droid if you're concerned about privacy.

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It’s because people demonise “wasting time”.

People take themselves too seriously.

When it ends up consuming days or weeks on end then yes, something is wrong.

Does it end thus for you? In that case, indeed, something is wrong; help needs to be sought.

I'd wager it is an extreme case, however. Most people don't seem to be consumed by consuming social media days or weeks on end without remit.

I only bring my apple watch when i go out and leave my phone. I want to look around, collect my thoughts, let my mind wander.

Max Weber had things to say about this Puritan ethic [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_S...

Also:

"No person, householder or other, shall spend his time idly or unprofitably, under pain of such punishment as the court shall think meet to inflict"

-- Bay Colony General Court, 1633.

Problem is when you get addicted and end up spending over an hour scrolling content in a vegetable state and lack the energy to do anything else.

It's rarely just an hour. I used to waste >4 hours a day on YouTube.

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