3 ms·

I wonder if the novelty of a "life offline" would wear off if Aaron were to do it for longer than a month... I'm around the same age as Aaron, with a similar pe

by andreyf 17y ago

I wonder if the novelty of a "life offline" would wear off if Aaron were to do it for longer than a month... I'm around the same age as Aaron, with a similar personality, but try to balance a pretty active social/family life with my online life (I have a daughter, go to the gym, sometimes even go out dancing), and have to say that decisively, I've find the news.YC community more intellectually stimulating than the vast majority of my "offline life" community. Maybe I'm too involved in the wrong offline social circles, but I'm just a lot more fullfilled with the speed and variety of ideas I get online than I do offline anyday.

aaronsw 17y ago
I didn't spend the month with my "offline life" community. I agree, they're far less intellectually stimulating than the people I find online. I spent the month reading books, which I found even _more_ intellectually stimulating than the people I find online.
- andreyf 17y ago
  Ah, I was getting your story mixed up with that post about hiking and dancing - good point. Books > news.YC a lot of the time :)
- nostrademons 17y ago
  I wonder how much of that is novelty, though. I spent all my elementary and teenage years reading books, and still read anywhere from 50-150/year (more on the 50 side now that I'm working at Google, but in college I hit 150 one year). As a result, when I walk into a library I've found I've already read most of the books that seem interesting to me. A lot of my interests are narrow enough that the Internet's the only place to go for more information on the topic.
  - bokonist 17y ago
    I hit the same wall the library. If you want a new injection of novel intellectual thought, I highly recommend the blog Unqualified Reservations ( http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/ http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/ ). Read the entire archive, plus all the books he recommends. That should keep you intellectually stimulated for two to three years at least.
  - aaronsw 17y ago
    Sounds like you need to find bigger libraries. I read 50-150 books a year and my to-read list keeps growing longer.

by andreyf 17y ago

aaronsw 17y ago

I didn't spend the month with my "offline life" community. I agree, they're far less intellectually stimulating than the people I find online. I spent the month reading books, which I found even _more_ intellectually stimulating than the people I find online.

andreyf 17y ago
Ah, I was getting your story mixed up with that post about hiking and dancing - good point. Books > news.YC a lot of the time :)
nostrademons 17y ago
I wonder how much of that is novelty, though. I spent all my elementary and teenage years reading books, and still read anywhere from 50-150/year (more on the 50 side now that I'm working at Google, but in college I hit 150 one year). As a result, when I walk into a library I've found I've already read most of the books that seem interesting to me. A lot of my interests are narrow enough that the Internet's the only place to go for more information on the topic.
- bokonist 17y ago
  I hit the same wall the library. If you want a new injection of novel intellectual thought, I highly recommend the blog Unqualified Reservations ( http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/ http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/ ). Read the entire archive, plus all the books he recommends. That should keep you intellectually stimulated for two to three years at least.
- aaronsw 17y ago
  Sounds like you need to find bigger libraries. I read 50-150 books a year and my to-read list keeps growing longer.