Ask HN: Did learning to program cause you to lose interest in most other things?

Yes, I used to tinker with electronics, liked chemistry and biology... But since I was 10-12 or so I have been fully consumed by programming, doing it practically every day since then, at least few lines (am 27 now).

Even at summer camps I'd be programming - on paper if I had to, but usually I was able to smuggle a computing device with a sufficient shell.

The only thing I liked before programming that I'm still doing today is reading (mostly scifi focused on the advances of computer technology...).

Programming can be pretty intensive and hard to turn off from a brain bandwidth standpoint. I feel like sometimes when I'm not actively coding I'm still thinking through/distracted by problems from earlier in the day or week. That being said, I still try to keep up with my musical interests.

Maybe a hot take, but I also think that over time coding makes you less casually/mindlessly social. Or maybe that's just getting older...

I wouldn't say so - I still enjoy learning about international relations, history, finance, things like that. I did however have a lot less patience for dumb core requirement classes once I declared my CS major in college.