Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain | Hacker News Reader

Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain

nytimes.com

154 pointswallflower36 comments

I used to be a whitewater rafting guide in the mountain west (Utah and vicinity). I still organize private trips when I can in the summer. We're talking multi-day (4-5 night) trips; camping on the river, boating 20 miles per day, enjoying the cold spray of whitewater, the adrenaline of just missing some big rock or skirting a huge "hole."

On the trip, you literally cannot connect to the "normal" world; there are no cell phone towers that will reach you. It takes a couple of days, but eventually (finally) your mind starts to settle down and relax. It's a transformative experience, you don't realize how much the constant barrage of information and messaging taxes your brain and even your soul.

Once you relax and find that tranquil state, you don't want to go back. You know what's waiting for you, but you long to keep the peaceful state of mind. Some lucky few even choose to stay, eventually quitting their job and moving to a place where less money is made nor required.

There are many places where you literally cannot connect with the world; find these places and go on vacation there, at least one week per year.

Your job, it can wait. If you're literally off the grid and cannot be reached, you will only earn the respect of your peers even more. Be one of those people who vacations the way that others secretly wish they could do.

The job can wait only if you have enough money to fill your belly, that is not the situation of many people unfortunately

I once took a wilderness course that had us in the backcountry continuously for 30 days. One of the cooler effects was that by the end of the trip, I could predict the weather a day or two in advance. There are plenty of clues if you're out in it all day and know what to look for.

This was the mid-90s so the "check out" effect was probably not as strong as it would be now. (For example, I did not have a cell phone at the time.) But life lived on nature's terms definitely had its own rhythms. Coming back to civilization was a pretty big adjustment.

I was a whitewater guide in the Mountain West as well. It was super weird to come back from a week long trip, and catch up with all the texts and calls in about 15 mins. They fell so pressing, but they are not.

Agree with this, as he says pumping another post into the internet.

Last proper break I had was in an 1997. Went to see a friend but didn't make it. Stopped off at an interesting looking charity shop (thrift store for my US cousins) and bought a copy of Calculus for the Practical Man. Got rather into it eating a petrol station sandwich and ended up staying in a Travelodge for a week with myself and a pencil and my old Nokia 5.1 turned off.

When I tell people this they assure me that I'm mentally ill but it was like you meditation focussing on something intently without distraction for for that period of time even though I've never used the knowledge gained.

Now I have a family so I'm good for an hour here and there but sometimes I get up in the night for distraction free time and sleep on the job ;-)

I hope you at least let your friend know that you weren't going to make it...?

Anyway, your vacation sounds awesome to me :).

Absolutely nobody forces you to have a TV, a facebook account and a smartphone. Peer pressure is easily ignored and the time gained can be spent on more worthwhile pursuits.

If you think you can't live without any of those then you're in an excellent position to reap the benefits of doing without them. If you could easily live without them then the gain will likely be small.

Absolutely nobody forces you to have a TV, a facebook account and a smartphone.

In the most literal sense you're absolutely right of course. You can live without them. However, the real world isn't doesn't work on such absolutes.

Social isolation and loneliness are dibilitating conditions that can lead to serious mental illness (depression, anxiety, etc), so if you're not in a position to socialise without at least Facebook or a smartphone you should think twice before cancelling them. Many, many people would find themselves left out of group events if they cancelled their social media accounts. It's the de facto way of organising things these days. That is something that's well worth thinking about before making the leap.

I've spent long periods of my life working from remote locations, and without an internet connection to talk to my friends it would have (figuratively) killed me.

How about you can have a TV, but you don't need to have it on for 6 hours a day. You can have a facebook account, but you don't need to check it 10 times a day. You can have a smart phone, but you don't need to check it 45 times a day.

I don't know... I personally feel more lonely when I browse Facebook. Seeing all the cool things my friends are doing - even if the posts are selected carefully for positive impressions - makes me think that I'm just missing out or am more behind in life.

The worst is when people post photos with their significant others. I'm single... so yeah. Right in the feeler, man.

The only reason I have my account and try to be active on it is because my parents are overseas and my mom feels really disconnected if I don't.

You make it seem like it's difficult to have a healthy social life without Facebook. I totally disagree.

Friends ask each other what they are up to. Just because you're all on Facebook doesn't mean you stop talking to each other about events, etc. If you can only stay in the loop because of Facebook, that speaks more about the closeness of relationships you have with your friends.

I've had a very enjoyable social life as a mid 20s guy (who deleted Facbeook) who goes out a lot and likes to make new friends. It felt like a risky move at the time, but deleting Facebook may honestly be the best decision I've made in the last year.

Mainly, people are afraid of being judged for not having Facebook. In reality, most people don't care, and it is easy to take higher ground if someone does decide to judge you, because it is a little crazy (or arguably very crazy) to make your social life dependent on a website; tell them that if you have to.

Texting, calling, and email are the bare necessities IMO, and that does not take a smartphone either. As a side note I think extremely low investment social apps like WhatsApp or Skype are very different than Facebook and nice to use.

You say that as a extrovert...

I am.introvert, and had no examples, my dad is a loner, and orphan to boot, I was never encouraged to go out and find friends.

The few friends I have invite me over about twice a year, and using Facebook, if I deleted my Facebook I could provably drop dead in my apartment, my family would notice in 3 days, and my friends would never go to my funeral, because they would never know, maybe wonder after five years what I am doing with my life...

I didn't have parental guidance, and I was more introverted at one time until I made a resolution to be more extroverted (and I'm still somewhat introverted, and happy I am too).

It's something that's 100% in your hands right now. Go out and meet people. Get yourself on a path to being someone who is more social and outgoing. There's nothing preventing you, with time, from having more (better) friends and being just as social as others. It's very human. Starting points can be Meetup groups, hobbies, co-workers, even pickup people if you want to meet girls/guys, it doesn't really matter... just start getting yourself out there, and practice turning acquaintances into friendships.

There's a big difference between an "internet connection" and "facebook". My opinion (as someone who cancelled my Facebook and netflix accounts this month, never had a TV, but do have a smartphone (mostly for GPS)) is that anything meaningful that happens on facebook can happen just as easily via text or email. If your close friends are planning an event or talking in a group chat, great, they can shoot you a text or email.

The things that facebook (and twitter) has the market cornered on are the things that no one cares about. For example, with these sites, you can see random updates from old acquaintances that really do not impact your life. That would never have happened before social media, and personally, I did not feel that 140 character quips, infini-scrolling feeds of irrelevant info, or gossiping were benefiting my life at all, so I've been on a deactivation spree.

95% of the time Facebook is a complete waste of time, but every time I get close to deleting an account I hear from someone that I have not seen in years. Someone I would have otherwise lost touch with. For that alone it is worth it (for me).

I don't have a TV (well I do, but it's not hooked up as a TV, it's simply a computer screen that I watch a couple of movies a month on). I have never had a facebook account and I detest smartphones. I have a simple flip open phone that cost $15 and I had texting and the mobile browser turned off. (I do however have a nexus 7 which I like but I don't carry it everywhere).

I get by just fine.

I watch people fiddling with their smartphones everywhere I go (my girlfriend is one them... she can't sit through dinner without texting or taking a picture of the meal and posting it somewhere...does anyone care?) and wonder what they get out it.

I love computers and technology. I love to sit and code for hours. I love reading HN and posting irrelevant comments like this one. But then I stand up and walk away and HN doesn't follow me. I might be getting old but I just don't get it. I simply couldn't handle being connected all the time.

The demands a definition of "forces".

The truth is that modern commercial media are very consciously designed to be highly addictive, including TV, Facebook, many websites, and other media.

Source: I've worked in the field for much of the past decade, and could cite media executives talking about creating addictive and compelling content, dominating "all screens" -- phone, tablet, laptop, PC, and small and large-screen TVs.

It's also very difficult to find places in public where you're not assaulted by TVs, including increasingly in bars and cafes.

The salient characteristic of peer pressure is that it's not easily ignored -- that's precisely why peer pressure and social norms are sought by marketers, propagandists, and others who seek to influence group behaviors.

See: http://www.wired.com/2014/08/i-liked-everything-i-saw-on-fac...

Or discussions I've had on "the dopamine meme", TED, and weaponized viral clickbait:

http://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/240xss/the_dopa...

http://gigaom.com/2012/09/02/when-did-addiction-become-a-goo...

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/17021-society-of-addic...

http://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/1te3hz/we_need_...

http://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/23twec/weaponiz...

And the Medium is the Message: how incentives shape what we're offered

http://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/278e2o/the_medi...

I don't drink. I've had a life-long bi-weekly reminder to resist peer pressure and that probably makes me particularly immune to that kind of nonsense. Each to his own.

"Bi-weekly reminder"? What is that, Friday/Saturday happy hour avoidance?

I tend to avoid a great deal of the dopamine-industrial complex myself. That's part of what makes it so apparent to me. I'm also aware of how compelling certain aspects of it can be.

The fact that you think you've got a strong resistance to it (which may well not be the case -- self-assessed capabilities are notoriously unreliable, see also Dunning-Kruger effect) doesn't mean that much of the world doesn't.

You will see that people in very high creativity fields adopting practices like this intuitively, which might seem crazy / lazy to those around them. Many mathematicians, musicians, novelists, auteurs come to mind. They work on a range of stuff, some positively irrelevant, and make sure to have 'off' time with a mildly distracting task/trip to let the subconscious work on the problem. Similarly, many creative writers can't write on a schedule (many can!), and need 'inspiration to strike them' - i.e. they recognize burnout and switch to subconscious mode.

Just went on a 3-week camping trip (some hotels to clean up) throughout the Southwestern US. I just graduated from school so I had the luxury of an extended summer vacation with no pressure to get an internship or really do anything classically "productive".

I really can't put into words how great that trip was for my mental state and perspective. I was blown away by the incredible variety of natural beauty that we ignore every day. I had cell phone access in some places, but I didn't access the internet (besides navigation), read any newspapers, or watch TV. My brain just felt relaxed and I was consistently happy for 3 weeks.

I can't wait for my next camping trip. It's an inexpensive and simple way to have a true vacation and let your brain 'reset'.

If you really want to reset your brain I highly recommend doing a 10-day vipassana meditation retreat (see: dhamma.org). They are free and not affiliated with any religion, but you can't read or write or talk for 10 days. They teach you to meditate during this time.

I did this with my wife last year. I'm CTO and co-founder of a startup, so I had to plan many months in advance, knowing that no one would be able to get in touch with me during this time.

It was really difficult, but a great opportunity to grow and learn to meditate. I didn't realize how much of my own opinion and views of myself have to do with communicating with others. When communicating with others, their responses to you add to your definition of yourself. And when you don't have that for 10 days, your self starts to disappear. It was pretty awesome and interesting. I think everyone should try it.

The golden time for creativity is when half-daydreaming and half-attentioned for me. If I am completely gone to daydreaming mode, my brain doesn't handle complexed tasks. So, I feel like taking long vacation where you tend to become completely daydreaming mode isn't good for my creativity.

The overwhelming feeling I always had with the social media it's really weird.

I've always thought social media at its core as anti-social.

Some of us may have had pen friends, but comparing social media to that is lying to oneself. The way social media encourages us to act is akin to dogs leaving their mark on the wooden poles near the street. Sure, some may pay attention to the mark we've left, but for most parts it's just masking out the previous one-way communication attempts.

And if anyone gets noticed more than the rest, maybe they merely manage to make a bigger stink.

This piece reminded me a lot of the John Cleese speech on creativity, which I encountered here last year.

TL;DR You need an hour or two of interrupted time every so often to daydream.

The Cleese bit is really good, though he's also largely looking at shorter-term creativity -- the type needed to write a comedy sketch or other piece.

I've thought on how this applies to those who focus on longer-term problems, especially those concerning highly complex systems and spanning years. Think of design of large and complex software systems, systems administration, or working on deep problems facing civilization -- the systems theorists of the Santa Fe Institute, Club of Rome, and related organizations come to mind.

Seems to me that any period of profound concentration has to be followed by one of profound rest.

Good luck getting American work culture at least to respect these ideas.

I was hoping that this article would be about LSD, which has been clinically shown to be efficaceous in resetting several psychotropic behaviors. Disclaimer: I have never dropped LSD myself.

i also thought this would be about mushrooms

I was going to say. I don't think a vacation is a particularly potent "reset switch".

There are quite a few articles around about the "resetting" behavior of certain classes of hallucinogenics. I've heard it described as (pardon the aggressive metaphor) the mind being shaken up so all the pieces fall together a bit differently, and minus any precarious arrangements of pieces.

I have personally found this to be the case. Extremely positive experiences for the most part. I almost could not help but be incredibly introspective and deconstruct problems into their main components and causes. I could also see it introducing new such behaviors if taken without care or planning.

Dropping LSD is something that, unless you know for a straight up fact is pure, is rather sketchy. Most LSD these days is some other chemical. Try to stay pure. Go with the ayahuasca or other plant based methods like shrooms. You will get all the benefits of a total mental reset, lasting invigoration for life and your fellow man, clean thoughts about where you stand, and love. The love part and the peace that comes with it is hard to put into words. If I tried, it would be like knowing what I know now, but back when I was a child. Too powerful for normal comprehension.

Great advice except that none of these things are quite like the other.

Ayahuasca (never tried it, do not intend to) is by all accounts a very strong psychotropic. It regularly induces nausea and I've only heard of it being used in semi-ritualistic settings. Also, it's a bitch to concoct apparently - i.e., you don't get this "off the shelf"

shrooms, um Magic Mushrooms, have a different psychoactive main ingredient (psylociyin?) to Ayahuasca and have a short shelf life (unless dried I think) and are seasonal.

LSD (Acid) is easily sourced, you have to trust that it's pure but you could find out from someone who's had part of a batch. LSD is easier to regulate than magic mushrooms (uh, 50 is about a dose? who knows...) because you can take half a tab to start with.

Do your own research, ignore the mysticism (it's so tedious), go have your own experience, and see for yourself.

I thought we did that every weekend.

Second paragraph:

"But beware the false break. Make sure you have a real one."

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