Comment by Aurornis | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Aurornis | Hacker News Reader

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> There's a certain irony in coining the term on discord

And the section in the middle where they start praising a YouTube video series that validated his anger and encourages us to go watch it.

You can sense the author’s struggles with self-regulation at the center of this article, but they have a blind spot for the content and apps that they really like. I think people in this situation would do better to start looking for positive outlets for their time like taking up an activity or exercise routine that gets them out of the house and away from screens. Trying to set arbitrary boundaries to avoid really bad content and apps is good, but if that time is just backfilled with other apps and videos then it’s only a very partial help.

I agree. I’m the author, and I think freeing up my time is the core of making myself feel better. And I think it could help others.

Because I don’t scroll nearly as much anymore, I have less things to immediately and effortlessly distract myself with. This inadvertently forces me into creativity, mindfulness or rekindling hobbies, which are healthier and more fulfilling activities than TikTok. It also promotes experimentation and trying new things. For example: I don’t write often, but having more time and boredom allows me to actually try instead of wishing I had. And now we’re having this conversation as a result.

YouTube and Discord are as much of a distraction as anything else, but their nature (or I guess how I use them) makes them feel more finite, and I can often “run out” of content to consume in a short amount of time. Previously, I couldn’t run out, and it was ruining my life and personality.

I can finally feel my life’s sort of global content feed becoming finite and manageable.

> I can often “run out” of content to consume

As a reformed YouTube addict myself, that feeling of "running out" really is great. Tragically, that was its own exciting rush which has since faded. :)

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