Hacker News Reader

Comment by marginalia_nu | Hacker News Reader

I think adding a performative aspect to a lot of things sort of kills the joy in doing them.

For like a year I didn't really tell anyone I had a website. It was always fun to work on, because I did it for myself when I was inspired. Then it got out, and now there's a lot more pressure.

Writing because you feel you ought to because you haven't in a few months is about the least inspiring thing I know. That's just a chore.

I quite deliberately don't put like or comment features on my website to sort of prevent this. Means on average I don't get a lot of interaction, since the minimum bar to interaction is sending me an email.

View on HN

Yes, I think there is a risk in doing things publicly. You can get stuck in this loop of topping your last performance. We may need validation or criticism to improve. But improvement is not the only thing that matters. For me, enjoyment is more important; I can be quite happy making things that I never show anyone else, and obligations can quickly kill the joy. On the other hand, sometimes enjoyment falters because of stagnation. It is a tricky line to walk, with traps on both sides.

> You can get stuck in this loop of topping your last performance.

There's an easy way to avoid this.

Burma-Shave.

This! Our society as a whole push us toward performing aiming to produce more, to consume more again and over again. We don't do things because we like them of we want to have fun. We do these things to perform, gain wealth, visibility, status. Such approach steer us away from the innate human need of exploring, playing and mastering for the sake of it, which, surprise surprise, it is what make human happy.

That so true but unfortunately it takes many freedoms to able to do this.

Freedom from financial worries, freedom from the worry of what others think, freedom from the worries of not knowing for what it will be good for (to explore).

We do this as children since all those freedoms are given. It is hard to do when one starts out in society that places so many expectations on one.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com