Comment by Cthulhu_ | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Cthulhu_ | Hacker News Reader

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It's all right these days, if you're into mindless entertainment; they got rid of a lot of the more toxic parts (the_donald and co) and pornography is de-emphasized, likely will be removed altogether in the future. My feeds are now mainly poorly Paint-edited memes, cat photos / videos, and sometimes a bit of drama from the relationships or "am I the asshole" subreddits.

I don't actually do that much for mental stimulation anymore. HN doesn't do it for me anymore since three quarters are about technology or industries I'm far removed from, plus I never liked the SV culture of overhyping and grinding out startups to fish for early retirement. It's that culture that gave us the gig economy and that encourages the sigma male grindset bullshit where if you don't work 16 hours a day maintaining a healthy daily balance of soylent, melatonin, LSD and meditation you're not cool enough.

I'm with you on Silicon Valley being a grift, but be wary about mindless content consumption - even if it's not doomscrolling, you're essentially putting yourself in stasis and numbing yourself with a constant dopamine drip-feed, which can lead to not actually enjoying life. Basically, internet addiction is real.

5 years later, browsing r/all is much worse in other ways. Porn has been de-emphasized, but every other post feels like an outrage post designed to evoke anger, often without any proof, and it's enough to get people completely riled up.

Same hat, though I've mostly moved on to TikTok for my mindless entertainment.

HN is better because there are other internet olds here and more of the content is interesting, but as somebody with MS, the sigma male grindset thing gets under my skin because there's an undercurrent of 'If you do these things, you can ward off insecurity or poverty' and there are cases where that's just not true. Plus the ability to do those things often relies on external support, which for some reason just isn't mentioned when people talk about how they've worked to get where they are. (Which I'm not discounting; it's just that two people can put in the same effort and get drastically different results.)

It's a mindset for people in their 20s or people who can outsource most life activities.

> two people can put in the same effort and get drastically different results

Definitely; results come from: effort, ability, luck (or timing), choices and starting resources.

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