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Alec also cited this video as at least a partial motivator for his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNOol5OTasw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNOol5OTas

Alec also cited this video as at least a partial motivator for his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNOol5OTasw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNOol5OTasw It focuses on the harmful nature of infinitely scrolling content. Cutting out all infinite scrolling apps has had a hugely positive effect on my productivity and mental health.

latexr 2y ago
How does HN fit into that? I’m not trying to be cheeky, I’m genuinely interested, HN is technically an infinite website (though you do have to click “More”) yet you’re here. Do you use the noprocrast settings? Does HN just fit differently into your brain? Something else?
- atrus 2y ago
  There's a bit of a mental difference between being able to (literally) endlessly swipe up to the next tiktok vs having to click the next button on hn though.
  - 4gotunameagain 2y ago
    Definitely, but as you said, it's only a bit. Things like hn or old.reddit still carry most if not all of the negative effects of infinite feeds. What I would give credit to hn for is that being text only, it forces you at least to think a bit and not blindly consume a video for example.
    - doubled112 2y ago
      On HN, at least, once I get a few pages in I usually realize I’m just seeing articles from a few hours/days ago. I know then it is time to take a break. It isn’t infinite the same way TikTok will or YouTube used to keep playing something you haven’t seen yet.
      - 4gotunameagain 2y ago
        It is not the same for sure. But it is still not harmless imo. How you justify your addiction is entirely up to you though ;)
- alwa 2y ago
  One difference is that HN uses a ranked list. You can generally count on things getting less salient the farther you “scroll.” It’s the same way that infinitely-scrolling Google results don’t have the same effect as infinitely-scrolling content chutes, which exploit the hunch that there might be something gold just around the next swipe…
  - philipwhiuk 2y ago
    I think the 'More...' link at the bottom is definitely invoking the same hunch.
    - alwa 2y ago
      Maybe! To me it’s more of a “OK, that’s the end of the important stuff, this way to the also-rans if you’re extra bored today”
- mattmein 2y ago
  A few years ago I set up a ublock filter to hide the next/more buttons on hacker news and reddit. It works great because I can still get my news fix, but I can't scroll endlessly. Ublock Origin: ! 2020-10-11 https://news.ycombinator.com https://news.ycombinator.com news.ycombinator.com##.morelink

latexr 2y ago

How does HN fit into that? I’m not trying to be cheeky, I’m genuinely interested, HN is technically an infinite website (though you do have to click “More”) yet you’re here. Do you use the noprocrast settings? Does HN just fit differently into your brain? Something else?

atrus 2y ago
There's a bit of a mental difference between being able to (literally) endlessly swipe up to the next tiktok vs having to click the next button on hn though.
- 4gotunameagain 2y ago
  Definitely, but as you said, it's only a bit. Things like hn or old.reddit still carry most if not all of the negative effects of infinite feeds. What I would give credit to hn for is that being text only, it forces you at least to think a bit and not blindly consume a video for example.
  - doubled112 2y ago
    On HN, at least, once I get a few pages in I usually realize I’m just seeing articles from a few hours/days ago. I know then it is time to take a break. It isn’t infinite the same way TikTok will or YouTube used to keep playing something you haven’t seen yet.
    - 4gotunameagain 2y ago
      It is not the same for sure. But it is still not harmless imo. How you justify your addiction is entirely up to you though ;)
alwa 2y ago
One difference is that HN uses a ranked list. You can generally count on things getting less salient the farther you “scroll.” It’s the same way that infinitely-scrolling Google results don’t have the same effect as infinitely-scrolling content chutes, which exploit the hunch that there might be something gold just around the next swipe…
- philipwhiuk 2y ago
  I think the 'More...' link at the bottom is definitely invoking the same hunch.
  - alwa 2y ago
    Maybe! To me it’s more of a “OK, that’s the end of the important stuff, this way to the also-rans if you’re extra bored today”
mattmein 2y ago
A few years ago I set up a ublock filter to hide the next/more buttons on hacker news and reddit. It works great because I can still get my news fix, but I can't scroll endlessly. Ublock Origin: ! 2020-10-11 https://news.ycombinator.com https://news.ycombinator.com news.ycombinator.com##.morelink