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Comment by oefrha | Hacker News Reader

> you just might find your soul by choosing to put your next 2000 hours of free time to a different purpose.

Like mindlessly browsing forums and shitting on things you don’t care about?

Hi oefrha, haha, good one. But for me this isn't about being judgmental or scoring points. You might be right to include time spent on HN in the category of addictive timesinks better spent elsewhere, so yes, maybe there's a touch of hypocrisy in my original comment. But nothing about my engagement with this topic is "mindless". On the contrary, I choose deliberately to do the uncomfortable / unpopular thing and encourage others to try to avoid slipping further into mindless activity, because I'm personally acutely aware of what's at stake. I wasn't "shitting on" nor singling out this game in particular. I don't care if it's Factorio, World of Warcraft, Magic: the Gathering, fantasy football, or anything else that has a strong tendency to become all-consuming. Life is too short as it is. I'm speaking from the heart as a cancer survivor who's had a chance to reflect deeply on nearly 50 years of life, and I'm so glad I quit World of Warcraft cold turkey when I did, when my oldest daughter was still an infant. Please, try to interpret my comments in the spirit they're intended. Thanks.

I know many other people who survived cancer who decided that life was too short to take it too seriously and now they are more care free, play more video games, smoke more pot, etc.

I’m glad you had a personal revelation that works for you (maybe), but being a cancer survivor doesn’t make you a better arbiter of other people’s time and energy.

I didn't say it did! I make no such claims. Rather my experiences (esp. with addictive pasttimes like WoW) led me to a place where I'm confident that encouraging people to consider their choices might help someone learn from my mistakes. YMMV. Each to his/her own. Enjoy your day!

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