3 ms·

These discussions I've been seeing on this lately have been making me wonder if there's something odd about me. FB and Twitter simply do nothing for me, no dopa

by Pigo 9y ago

These discussions I've been seeing on this lately have been making me wonder if there's something odd about me. FB and Twitter simply do nothing for me, no dopamine at all. I get on once a week, maybe for 5 minutes, and then easily turn it off. I could give a damn about any of it really. Maybe I'm anti-social or have a chemical imbalance.

bertil 9y ago
It is more likely that you find other activity exciting: exercise, food are two likely candidates, so are sexual gratifications. As you are active on Hacker News, I suspect that something code-related could be where you find fulfilment. Most developers have strong opinions about the tool they use: key layout, editor, code & test patterns, project methodology. This is because they learn to use those effectively through neurological short-cuts. That makes not having them incredibly frustrating. Having rewards at different time scales (instant feedback from seeing your ideas on the screen, seeing code compile, error rates go down, a product being launched) can play the role that social media plays for people whose main activity is more conversational. Or maybe, you just drink too much coffee.
- Pigo 9y ago
  That made me laugh. I guess I do get some dopamine from seeing an upvote on HN. But that's only because of the respect I have for the person most likely attached to that vote. I am code-related, and I go home feeling empty if I walk away from a day without having built something. It can keep me up at night, actually. So there is something to that. I started working with wood at night, because it's not computer related and even with my poor skill it feels like an accomplishment. Exercise has a feeling of accomplishment for me as well. It's just surprising that the popular social medias can build up such a reward hit in people.

3 ms·

These discussions I've been seeing on this lately have been making me wonder if there's something odd about me. FB and Twitter simply do nothing for me, no dopa

by Pigo 9y ago

bertil 9y ago
It is more likely that you find other activity exciting: exercise, food are two likely candidates, so are sexual gratifications. As you are active on Hacker News, I suspect that something code-related could be where you find fulfilment. Most developers have strong opinions about the tool they use: key layout, editor, code & test patterns, project methodology. This is because they learn to use those effectively through neurological short-cuts. That makes not having them incredibly frustrating. Having rewards at different time scales (instant feedback from seeing your ideas on the screen, seeing code compile, error rates go down, a product being launched) can play the role that social media plays for people whose main activity is more conversational. Or maybe, you just drink too much coffee.
- Pigo 9y ago
  That made me laugh. I guess I do get some dopamine from seeing an upvote on HN. But that's only because of the respect I have for the person most likely attached to that vote. I am code-related, and I go home feeling empty if I walk away from a day without having built something. It can keep me up at night, actually. So there is something to that. I started working with wood at night, because it's not computer related and even with my poor skill it feels like an accomplishment. Exercise has a feeling of accomplishment for me as well. It's just surprising that the popular social medias can build up such a reward hit in people.