Comment by Tycho | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Tycho | Hacker News Reader

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> Get sick?

While you wait for your appointment, research your condition using any of the free, high quality medical knowledge bases on the web, and/or connect with a community of other internet users with similar afflictions to get advice/perspective.

> Looking for an entry-level job?

Learn to code and become an in-demand knowledge worker. In the mean time, perhaps monetize your existing skills and assets by becoming an AirBnB host or Uber driver or delivery driver.

> Want to spend time with friends?

Use a widely available asynchronous messaging service to organize an outing, perhaps using a money-transfer app so that one person can take care of booking etc. If you can't meet in person, maybe you can have a video conference on one of the various free platforms, or just have an extended group chat with your friends.

> Want to go to a show?

Browse the web for a vast selection of shows you would never hear about otherwise.

Not that these points negate your complaints, but I think you paint an unnecessarily miserable picture. I think that in itself is one of the big cultural problems of America and elsewhere.

Frustrated trying to just do normal human things because you're blocked by corporations and are powerless against them? Have you tried Just Don't Do That (TM)? Instead of doing what you wanted, try doing something we allow you to do. Powered By Technology Systems (R) will help you maximize what little agency you still have left, namely, to sit in your residence and consume the internet. The real world is no longer hospitable for humans, so just don't do anything!

Not to negate the issues presented, but the severity seems overblown. Since when is using social media to talk to friends or going to a show of the nature implied here a "normal human thing"? Pretty sure majority of the world's population are living their lives without these. Seems like first world problems. Maybe that's the real issue plaguing americans, and I say this as an american myself, they have too many "first world problems" and don't appriciate simpler things.

Try not using social media for friends, work, etc. and see how much you got left in a year. I did and there's no doubt many will struggle (lost friends, new job, not possible to have children (of you want them to gave a life or education). The only social media I ever use is HN. Society is broken up in those that use and those that don't.

> While you wait for your appointment, research your condition using any of the free, high quality medical knowledge bases on the web, and/or connect with a community of other internet users with similar afflictions to get advice/perspective.

And now not only your running nose is still there, but you are also very anguished and cannot sleep well, just because it might be the sign that you have a cancer and will die alone in terrible suffering in a few months while ruining your family with debts.

People don't have time for all that, nor should they.

I cant tell if you are trolling or not. In case you aren't, all of your solutions involve a large amount of free time and money. Something a lot people don't have, I worked in the restaurant biz before moving to tech. It was brutal, even getting a day off to go to the doctor would cost me a large portion of my pay check. I was able to "escape" due to having a solid support system, a lot of my former coworkers did not have this.

I vouched for your comment because you have some good points. You were likely downvoted for your first sentence because it's a (couched) accusation that GP is trolling. Consider omitting that statement next time, it does not add to the discussion. See the HN comment guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Hmm I could be wrong but I suspect that people spend record amounts of time watching TV (or equivalent) and record numbers of people own devices like smartphones that facilitate all of the above activities. Doesn't seem like time and money is the barrier you make out. Also they were not meant as solutions but as options that didn't exist in the past.

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