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Comment by deely3 | Hacker News Reader

How many millions of children succesfully graduated already while having smartphones?

> Nowadays people can spend 14hrs a day on their phone and still not be bored, it's crazy.

How this can be crazy? You have unlimited library of people, photos, information, videos, absolutely anything in your hand. It would be crazy not use it. I use my smartphone even now to write this comment.

> Deleting social media apps makes your phone _much_ less interesting though!

And also it will succesfully separate you from social information, trends. Which is good but also could become issue.

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It's difficult to explain how the world was before 2007. Yes, yes, some of this is cranky old man shouts at cloud, but some of it is more objective.

Being bored was okay. It was part of life, and good for you. It not only got you to put in effort into not being bored (_eventually_), but just not being entertained is good for your mental well being. None of us realised this at the time of course.

Being bored is okey. But not when you force to be bored by someone else. You are bored in a prison, you are bored during doing repetitive work, is it good for you too?

I remember times "before internet", when there no internet, no mobile phones, only books, TV with 3 channels, gossips, newspapers and radio. And so? I remember when cranky old men shouts "enough books,enough TV,enough radio, enough music". I'm now cranky old man, so what?

I still do not realize it.

I think it’s ok when students are forced to be bored by their tutors. I’ve taught bachelor students who spent the entire lecture on their phone. After the lecture they would seize a lot of my (unpaid) time for extra face to face, or they’d send me an email with questions. It’s fine for them to be bored and forced to take notes IMHO.

There’s enough time for smartphone use outside school hours. It’s a waste of time/energy for the tutor if no one is paying attention. Of course I’d try to make the lecture as interesting and ‘fun’ as possible, but winning their attention over Insta/TikTok/etc is challenging.

Good on you for putting in effort to make it fun, but I wouldn't. There's nothing wrong with students struggling to understand something they don't find fun. Either they want to learn it, or they don't. What are they even doing there, if not to learn what you're teaching?

> But not when you force to be bored by someone else. You are bored in a prison, you are bored during doing repetitive work, is it good for you too?

Arguably, yes. You learn to deal with discomfort, which is good for your mental health. Changing circumstances to avoid discomfort puts the power in externalities, whereas learning to deal with situations you don't like puts the power internally (you). The modern world trains us to run away from anything we don't like, and here we are.

Also, most people don't sit in a room voluntarily because they're looking to be bored (unless it's for meditation, but that's not the same thing). It's usually because of someone else.

People surfed the web for 14 hours a day before 2007, or played games. Before all that, some people binge-watched TV.

Yes, I was one of those people :) I don't feel it was the same though. The best way I can describe the difference is in terms of control. Back then, I was in control, even if I was vegged out in front of the T.V. Now if I'm online, I feel like I'm being fed on a drip.

you had to do that at home, or in a specific location that would allow you to do that (bar, cyber cafe, friends house, etc.)

now you can do it anywhere, such as in the middle of a work call, or in class.

In 2007, people who didn't have Internet-connected desk jobs (or work from home arrangements) couldn't surf the web or check social throughout the day.

The difference is that now almost everyone can.

> How this can be crazy?

How it can be crazy is that they are ignoring the existence of 4K, 30 inch monitors, peering into a tiny screen that you have to dab at like an imbecile.

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