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That’s awesome. Just signed up. Wonder if the answer should be technical. It feels like more a self controlled issue. Like I keep refreshing my emails for no r

That’s awesome. Just signed up. Wonder if the answer should be technical. It feels like more a self controlled issue. Like I keep refreshing my emails for no real reasons. But if I block myself to this feed, I will just switch to another feed. Eg HN or Reddit.

dmitryminkovsky 8y ago
Thank you! Please keep in touch and let me know what you think. I've found that using Pony is both strangely underwhelming and overwhelming at the same time... would love to hear other people's experiences. > Wonder if the answer should be technical. It feels like more a self controlled issue. That's exactly why I built Pony: to remove the self control factor. If the whole point of technology is to make us better, than why should we have to improve ourself (ie. improve our discipline, self control) just to use technology? > But if I block myself to this feed, I will just switch to another feed. Eg HN or Reddit. That's something I've experienced myself. For that I sometimes edit my hosts file to block services, or DNS at the router level. Of course that's kind of ridiculous...
- hartator 8y ago
  That’s a good point. Not sure if I have an answer. The thing is there is a real - small but real - value of checking your emails or refreshing your feeds every 1h. Like if there is some kind of urgency or you’ll be missing out on something important. The added stress is not worth it though and it’s where I join you.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - dmitryminkovsky 8y ago
    Yeah, I agree. I am starting with one delivery per day because that's simple and easy to communicate. But really I'd like to gather feedback and add delivery options. A delivery style I would enjoy, for example, is actually linking the time to sunrise/midday/sunset based on user location. Also, I think it would be nice to let users choose one or more of the delivery times, instead of just one. And once an hour, like you said, might work well for people.
  - afarrell 8y ago
    This is what study-strategies youtuber Thomas Frank calls the "any value" mindset and as you point out, it fails to count the opportunity cost which it imposes.
    - hartator 8y ago
      Can you share a link? Can’t find anything on YouTube.
afarrell 8y ago
You are right that this doesn't stop you from going on other feeds. If you google for "SelfControl.app", "ColdTurkey", or "Freedom.app", you will find tools which help you block those other feeds. Things like this are a crutch: a tool we use to get around in the world and solve problems despite the fact that our bodies are imperfect. I have a disability where I find it hard to read text which is far away. Its the sort of thing that could be a real problem in my life. However, I've got a tool I've been using since age 8 to make that much, much easier to deal with. Would it be better if I wasn't dependent on this piece of technology? sure. But I don't live in a perfect world and refuse to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. If you have a similar condition and find to focus long-distance, I encourage you to use my solution. You can find it by googling "inexpensive eyeglasses".

dmitryminkovsky 8y ago

Thank you! Please keep in touch and let me know what you think. I've found that using Pony is both strangely underwhelming and overwhelming at the same time... would love to hear other people's experiences. > Wonder if the answer should be technical. It feels like more a self controlled issue. That's exactly why I built Pony: to remove the self control factor. If the whole point of technology is to make us better, than why should we have to improve ourself (ie. improve our discipline, self control) just to use technology? > But if I block myself to this feed, I will just switch to another feed. Eg HN or Reddit. That's something I've experienced myself. For that I sometimes edit my hosts file to block services, or DNS at the router level. Of course that's kind of ridiculous...

hartator 8y ago
That’s a good point. Not sure if I have an answer. The thing is there is a real - small but real - value of checking your emails or refreshing your feeds every 1h. Like if there is some kind of urgency or you’ll be missing out on something important. The added stress is not worth it though and it’s where I join you.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- dmitryminkovsky 8y ago
  Yeah, I agree. I am starting with one delivery per day because that's simple and easy to communicate. But really I'd like to gather feedback and add delivery options. A delivery style I would enjoy, for example, is actually linking the time to sunrise/midday/sunset based on user location. Also, I think it would be nice to let users choose one or more of the delivery times, instead of just one. And once an hour, like you said, might work well for people.
- afarrell 8y ago
  This is what study-strategies youtuber Thomas Frank calls the "any value" mindset and as you point out, it fails to count the opportunity cost which it imposes.
  - hartator 8y ago
    Can you share a link? Can’t find anything on YouTube.

afarrell 8y ago

You are right that this doesn't stop you from going on other feeds. If you google for "SelfControl.app", "ColdTurkey", or "Freedom.app", you will find tools which help you block those other feeds. Things like this are a crutch: a tool we use to get around in the world and solve problems despite the fact that our bodies are imperfect. I have a disability where I find it hard to read text which is far away. Its the sort of thing that could be a real problem in my life. However, I've got a tool I've been using since age 8 to make that much, much easier to deal with. Would it be better if I wasn't dependent on this piece of technology? sure. But I don't live in a perfect world and refuse to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. If you have a similar condition and find to focus long-distance, I encourage you to use my solution. You can find it by googling "inexpensive eyeglasses".