6 ms·

Guarantee the OP used this for a week and never touched it again. Those without self control cannot be trusted if they hold the switch.

mumbisChungo 1y ago
Have you never willfully developed a habit before? I find the first week or two is challenging, then after that it's easy.
msgodel 1y ago
I think you'd be surprised how a little bit of difficulty can be enough to break binge cycles. I killed both my hackernews and reddit addictions years ago by just adding them to /etc/hosts. It was easy to change and sometimes I did but that was enough that I didn't dwell on those sites anymore. Recently I've written a chrome extension that does this much better. Hopefully it gets approved today or tomorrow. Maybe I'll post it to show HN.
- j45 1y ago
  /etc/hosts works great. A dedicated device for browsing such content is useful too.
- SlowTao 1y ago
  Convenience is the biggest drug of them all, if you can break that then you can go a long way to breaking a habit. Even just putting up minor inconvenience can help slow the habit formed behavior. If you have a food addiction, remove all the pre-packed easy stuff. If you have to cook a meal to get the calories, you now have a step speed bump to the habit. It doesn't mean you cannot eat, it just stops that grab and go mentality. Same thing with the fridges of the internet (social media).
  - sodality2 1y ago
    Similarly, convenience (reducing resistance) is the biggest factor in sticking to positive habits. Here’s an article on applying this to strength training: https://matt.might.net/articles/hacking-strength/ https://matt.might.net/articles/hacking-strength/
- danielscrubs 1y ago
  Your comment is on HN, you want to talk about HN, on HN. How can we be sure you aren’t just an average guy when it comes to self reflection?
- mrweasel 1y ago
  > I killed both my hackernews and reddit addictions You can quit your Reddit addiction by commenting on Reddit. Reddits is a hellscape... I'd rather be browsing 4Chan.
  - hennell 1y ago
    Reddit is so dependant on the subs you're in. Some are pretty pleasant, some promote argument, some are just silly, some offer valuable advice. Any sub with too many people tends to deteriorate but there's loads of fun niche subs still.
motorest 1y ago
> Guarantee the OP used this for a week and never touched it again. Those without self control cannot be trusted if they hold the switch. It amazes me how much work one does to lift barriers to themselves, but so little to actually not go through them.
invalidusernam3 1y ago
I've had a time limit set on my phone for twitter + instagram to only allow 15 minutes of usage per day. There's an "ignore limit" button when you go over the time but it's surprising how few times I've actually pressed it. 99% of the time I go "yep, that's enough of that for today" and close the app
Jarwain 1y ago
I find it has a lot to do with activation energy, or how much friction there is. If something is too easy, it happens. If something is too hard/annoying to do relative to the reward, it doesn't. When I lived in Boston, I was able to get myself to go to Tae Kwon Do classes because it was literally on my commute. When I'd work from home, I'd end up missing the class. When covid hit, same. When I lived in Palo Alto, I rarely went to the city (and usually only when I could crash at a friend's place for the weekend) because the process of biking to caltrain, take caltrain, bike to wherever I wanna go, then reverse on my way home or catch an Uber, kinda ends up being an annoying or expensive process. When I moved to SF, I went and partied what was probably more frequently than was healthy. Moving to Oakland brought the rate back down again, but to a level that felt a little too isolating. Getting a car seems to hit a sweet spot; driving isn't too bad, and I have a lot more options. Buuut being responsible for a car curbs the worse behaviors.

mumbisChungo 1y ago

Have you never willfully developed a habit before? I find the first week or two is challenging, then after that it's easy.

msgodel 1y ago

I think you'd be surprised how a little bit of difficulty can be enough to break binge cycles. I killed both my hackernews and reddit addictions years ago by just adding them to /etc/hosts. It was easy to change and sometimes I did but that was enough that I didn't dwell on those sites anymore. Recently I've written a chrome extension that does this much better. Hopefully it gets approved today or tomorrow. Maybe I'll post it to show HN.

j45 1y ago
/etc/hosts works great. A dedicated device for browsing such content is useful too.
SlowTao 1y ago
Convenience is the biggest drug of them all, if you can break that then you can go a long way to breaking a habit. Even just putting up minor inconvenience can help slow the habit formed behavior. If you have a food addiction, remove all the pre-packed easy stuff. If you have to cook a meal to get the calories, you now have a step speed bump to the habit. It doesn't mean you cannot eat, it just stops that grab and go mentality. Same thing with the fridges of the internet (social media).
- sodality2 1y ago
  Similarly, convenience (reducing resistance) is the biggest factor in sticking to positive habits. Here’s an article on applying this to strength training: https://matt.might.net/articles/hacking-strength/ https://matt.might.net/articles/hacking-strength/
danielscrubs 1y ago
Your comment is on HN, you want to talk about HN, on HN. How can we be sure you aren’t just an average guy when it comes to self reflection?
mrweasel 1y ago
> I killed both my hackernews and reddit addictions You can quit your Reddit addiction by commenting on Reddit. Reddits is a hellscape... I'd rather be browsing 4Chan.
- hennell 1y ago
  Reddit is so dependant on the subs you're in. Some are pretty pleasant, some promote argument, some are just silly, some offer valuable advice. Any sub with too many people tends to deteriorate but there's loads of fun niche subs still.

motorest 1y ago

> Guarantee the OP used this for a week and never touched it again. Those without self control cannot be trusted if they hold the switch. It amazes me how much work one does to lift barriers to themselves, but so little to actually not go through them.

invalidusernam3 1y ago

I've had a time limit set on my phone for twitter + instagram to only allow 15 minutes of usage per day. There's an "ignore limit" button when you go over the time but it's surprising how few times I've actually pressed it. 99% of the time I go "yep, that's enough of that for today" and close the app

Jarwain 1y ago

I find it has a lot to do with activation energy, or how much friction there is. If something is too easy, it happens. If something is too hard/annoying to do relative to the reward, it doesn't. When I lived in Boston, I was able to get myself to go to Tae Kwon Do classes because it was literally on my commute. When I'd work from home, I'd end up missing the class. When covid hit, same. When I lived in Palo Alto, I rarely went to the city (and usually only when I could crash at a friend's place for the weekend) because the process of biking to caltrain, take caltrain, bike to wherever I wanna go, then reverse on my way home or catch an Uber, kinda ends up being an annoying or expensive process. When I moved to SF, I went and partied what was probably more frequently than was healthy. Moving to Oakland brought the rate back down again, but to a level that felt a little too isolating. Getting a car seems to hit a sweet spot; driving isn't too bad, and I have a lot more options. Buuut being responsible for a car curbs the worse behaviors.