I don't have this experience on HN really. I suspect I'm closer to the average age here. There is the occasional poor opinion but it usually gets downvoted pretty hard. Even people that I disagree with I learn a lot from. Today in this thread I learned about how classic Christianity thought about doubt for example. Of course a lot of people are anonymous here (including me) so people are much more bold with their opinions than they would be in person.
Not discounting your experience, but to me I have a very different experience on HN than I do Reddit.
When I was in my teens, I would tell engine builders on a car enthusiast forum that they're wrong about how a specific part goes together, because I'd seen one on google images and was pretty sure I knew better. I have grown of course, and whilst I know more about engines now, what I've truly learned is that someone who has actually done the thing probably knows how it really it is. People often base opinions on how they think things should be, when life is rarely so perfect.
Not sure how it became this way but perhaps it’s as simple as what you say:
> People sound like I did 10-15 years ago when I lacked the life experience
They’re kids.
Or perhaps it’s more sinister and coordinated. Either way, the political component of Reddit has made me abandon it. It’s unfortunate because I used to enjoy niche subs in the same way you would any other niche forum.
I used to think people who banned politics from the dinner table were being closed minded, but I get it now, they're fucking bored of the topic, and it creates tensions that the topic is underserved of. It's the same discussion over and over again.
I can comment a bit about how this is achieved, and it is “achieved” because it’s worked for/not organic.
It starts with the mods being overwhelmingly far-left, from the mainstream subs to even obscure radio subs. People who post leftist #CurrentThing will almost never be banned, and people who inevitably reply will face immediate bans.
“So what? I just won’t comment” you might think, but most are unaware bans also shadowban your voting power. You’ll see the numbers change from your votes but no one else will.
This has the effect of shifting what’s “popular” in a given sub over time, further reinforcing the narrative. Lots of people go with the flow/assume what appears popular is correct, so the effects of silencing one side reach far beyond those who are banned.
- Authoritarian
- Intolerant
- Pro censorship
- Naive
- Bigotry
- More emotional than logical
Advocates for sharp increases in federal-level government power and authority at the cost of individual liberties and freedoms.
Don't take me wrong here: I don't pretend that I have all the answers, that people left of center are always wrong, etc etc. I'm just describing the reddit vibe and why it's not for me.
When I'm browsing /r/pics I don't see "seize the means of production at any cost!" for example.
These days "far left", in my opinion, seems to be levied at people who want to tax the ten or so ultra billionaires in the US, protect transgender rights, have universal health care etc.
I think like a lot of people I'm moving more towards the center from the left as I get older and I find this is a point of contention with me and people on reddit. It's not only that though, it's also things like people being dogmatic about particular programming languages. I used to do that too but now I tend to see the world in grayscale. There are positives and negatives about pretty much everything.
Regardless, I think this is mostly an age thing since people remind me so much of younger self. I don't think they're even wrong necessarily but I did find myself practicing "Duty Calls" quite often: https://xkcd.com/386/
I was pretty left wing until the whole AOC "scarcity is a lie" wing of the party started taking over all online conversation. I'm sure the same applies to conservatives and Boebert/Greene nutjobs.
I'm sure whether you see Reddit as left or right is mostly colored by the comments and posts that stick out to you, and those are probably the ones you find crazy or distasteful.
Also good to keep in mind that the US core Democratic party platform is only able to purport positions that have a reasonable chance of winning over some of the moderate right wing in the country. They're constrained by whatever the moderate right thinks (for better or worse)
Agreed. There have been entire days where I've found myself distracted from completing otherwise pressing deadlines.
What I've found is that the activity I do first when I start my 'working day' dictates what I do. So, if I show up at work and open Hacker News or Tweetdeck, there's a not-so-insignificant chance that I'll find myself distracted one way or another for the rest of the day. However, if I stick to a set schedule, there's a good chance that I have a productive day.
What worries me is that these distractions build on one another. So, if I start on Hacker News, and stay off of it for the rest of the day, I can still find myself spending a good chunk of time going through unimportant emails or browsing various news feeds.
Do you think this is mediated by your mental state, instead of directly causal?
I noticed this for myself: I was recently diagnosed with a CFS-like issue and a combination of drugs and identifying food triggers has made a huge difference in my level of mental energy.
I still monitor and manage it day-to-day, and I noticed that when my inflammation is up, I am a complete sucker for YouTube videos and mindlessly rescrolling through Twitter. It's been really valuable to be able to reframe the problem as downstream of something more manageable.
It’s causal. I’ve found that my productivity level is relatively constant when I maintain a routine. The quality of my work may change depending on other factors, but I still make meaningful progress.
However, if I break my routine by checking social media early on in the day, there’s a good chance that my productivity will subsequently go down.
I haven’t found anything to suggest that I am more or less likely to do this when I am, for instance, not feeling well. One caveat. I don’t have to deal with anything you have to deal with, so I can’t make an apples to apples comparison.
Sure of course, I'm quite clear on what was going on in my case, but I was wondering how broad the dynamic might be. Thanks for your thoughts!
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1. I’m aware of ScreenTime, but it’s too easily overridden.
I bought it when it was a 1 time $20 purchase. You can define what times you want to block (Monday - Friday from 9am-5pm, for example). You can also lock preferences for when the Focus is active so you can’t change it. There’s also options for adding breaks.
It’s worked well for me. I know a little about myself and I need something like this to force me from being distracted. Whenever I find a new site, I add it to the list of blocked sites.
You can also block apps, or whitelist sites so everything except a few sites is blocked.
I can turn it off whenever I want with one commandline, but it’s enough to keep me from falling into the rabbit hole accidentally
The majority of comments I encounter on Reddit are jokes that are at least mildly amusing, and some of them are hilarious. If I had to describe Reddit comments with one word, I’d say funny, not stupid.
But those funny comments are often themselves memes, repeated in reply in similar contexts.
Reddit has become one big circle jerk to my eyes. It's why I'm on HN, because I'm addicted but hate the community on Reddit.
Yeah, but they’re still funny. Better that than hate speech.
But holy crap, those nuggets are buried among the ravings of the absolute stupidest people in the world. It feels poisonous to my epistemology, but the good stuff is _so_ valuable.
I suppose the solution is to try to pick topics that nobody cares about? This was tough when Covid was an informational lifeline, but maybe I can just change my interests from economics to... Quantum physics or something.