Comment by thewarrior | Hacker News Reader

Comment by thewarrior | Hacker News Reader

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Your theory explains half the story , atleast in my case. Programming is getting increasingly competitive and so some of the anxiety is motivated by worries about my future job security.

There has never been a better time to be born as a driven and prodigious individual. There are lots of young kids today leveraging technology produce music, code , draw and animate all through the power of the internet. Eg: Today I was amazed to learn that EDM producer Madeon is only 19 years old.

People might be burning themselves out by falling for the "hero" meme , but on the other hand , I feel that in a few years this will lead to an explosion of quality and output in every field as more prodigies are created.

Just imagine , there are 10 and 12 year olds browsing HN right now and they're being exposed to levels of ambition and mastery that they could never even imagine if they were restricted to their local peer group. So it starts young but on the other hand we might start seeing more progress than ever before.

I was one of those 12 year olds hanging out on usenet and slashdot about 15 years ago. I was exposed to technology, computational/mathematical language/jargon, the social pressures of continual growth and development, and so on, at a very young age, and it is most certainly a part of my core identity.

I still burnt out. I was working on my PhD in computer security and it took me 2 years to recover from 8 years of straight schooling and essentially no social life, or at best, a negative social life.

Growing up, I did not learn how to relax. I did not learn how to balance my mental and social health needs with my desires of who I wanted to be when I was 30. I did not learn how to balance my need to constantly be praised by my peers for my hard work and intelligence, with my need for social support, compassion, and understanding for when I failed (or was in the process of failing).

I burnt out really bad. I didn't have anyone to turn to because I was ashamed. I do have to say HN helped me look at failure in a different light, as a learning experience that I would likely value forever, but I still don't know if given the choice again, I would choose to experience it in the way I did.

I don't like to believe that learning trade offs are the same, generally, for each generation, but my experience tells me they are. Now I spend my time learning other things, like how to talk to people without turning into a frozen ball of nerves.

Thanks for sharing your story. I can understand what you're talking about. It isn't easy but eventually you just learn to accept it.

> I was one of those 12 year olds hanging out on usenet and slashdot about 15 years ago. I was exposed to [goatse] at a very young age, and it is most certainly a part of my core identity.

It's an issue when you're so into something that it consumes everything. Maybe also to escape other less favorable sides of your life (I mean mine here, but it seems social life was a burden for you too). The issue is that when this thing starts to crack too, then there's nothing else. Very heavy on your soul. That's why I read the 'do what you love' with a grain of salt now. And sometimes the idea of being lost in a context ([re]learning social life) that I disliked before feels almost like a massage of surprise which, even if it was one side that I might disliked before, feels a lot more worthy than being stuck in your narrowing world.

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