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Scrolling through reddit or HN threads takes almost no mental effort. I’d dare say it’s the sort of thing people do to relax after reading “hard” content like n
by fiblye 7y ago
Scrolling through reddit or HN threads takes almost no mental effort. I’d dare say it’s the sort of thing people do to relax after reading “hard” content like novels or research. Speaking personally, I can feel burnt out from reading a novel for a while. On the other hand, I can mindlessly scroll through internet comments, read them in full, and not notice that hours have passed and feel zero exhaustion from it.
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y agoI don’t feel exhausted, rather: bored by fiction and non-fiction alike. Having said that, it often feels like the internet speaks with one voice, even when it’s disagreeing with itself. Rarely does anyone say or write anything original. I guess HN feels more familiar though, more like family. And we’re probably driven by millions of years of evolution to seek that out.
- friendlybus 7y agoYes the Internet's voice is very homogenous. I crave the tiny YouTube videos that are posted by people that have truly different views and are articulated well. There's too much everyday garbage on the web, it's disappointing quantity is trumping form and quality. If YouTube loosened up it's monetization rules and went back to letting the producer set the form we could have more focused videos. The ten minute spam videos are the plague. HN is more rational and quantitative than other sites in general so I prefer this as a counter to other more abstract information sources.
- paufernandez 7y agoI believe you can read a novel more or less mindlessly, as you can read HN. But HN is more surprising, and it's like a slot-machine (in the analogy that Tristan Harris makes with social media). For me it is like System 1 or System 2 taking charge (as in the book "Thinking Fast and Slow", by Kahneman).