Link to the Mouse Utopia details at Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_sink
77 karma · joined March 12, 2020
my blog: https://www.fullstackoasis.com/articles/
my book: https://leanpub.com/learnbydoingreactnative
my email: fullstackdev+hn@fullstackoasis.com
Do you mind saying what worries you? And why you're feeling burnt out? I hope it's a transient thing.
I wish you were right, but I think you are wrong. This article on poverty in ancient Rome suggests otherwise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_ancient_Rome "Their society may have consisted of a handful of wealthy individuals that made up 0.6% of the population, an army that made up 0.4% of the population, and the poor masses that made up 99% of the populace." I selected Rome because it's my understanding that this is one of the longest lived empires.
The facts for the Roman Empire are not clear, but it looks like massive inequality is the sad default mode for humanity. One might expect that as literacy and information sharing improved, it would be less tolerable by the populace for this inequality to persist. But it seems about as bad as ever. This may be due to the perception that rich people because they "earned" it, despite the fact that it seems patently obvious (to me at least!) that is not the case.
Disclaimer: I'm a friend of the author, so I'm biased, but I really do think the book is good.
There are people who are sick of social media and will never be convinced to join up again. They've already left the building and aren't looking for anything else. I'm not quite there, but almost.
Other people are using established social media simply because that's where their people and orgs publish. I am eternally frustrated when my local cafe uses Insta or FB for their "web presence", but I'm not going to be the one to convince them to use something else. I hate that my local rock climbing partner finder group is located on FB, but what can I do about it? I also think it sucks that there are thousands of people in that group - I soon realized that this group simply doesn't work for me, since rock climbing requires high trust and I can't trust thousands of people.
Many people resist the idea of signing up for yet another social media account, esp when none of their people/orgs are already there. For example, I've sometimes thought of starting a Heylo group for local rock climbers to find partners - this might actually help me find more climbing partners. But I've never tried it. I just don't think people will join. The barrier to entry is (1) install app (2) create login (3) use app. SFAICT no one wants to do this if they're already on FB and already are a member of the group there. Even people that I know manage finding partners with email lists (gag). Can you imagine how much higher the barrier to entry would be if adding (4) you have to pay a monthly fee?
I do like the idea of "only allowed to invite someone that you know in meatspace" but how is this enforced? I also recognize that requiring payment could help increase the trust level, and I recognize that members have to pay in some way (ads, fees, sponsors, privacy violations) in order to support the platform.
If you feel you have no choice, though, I wonder if you could try to gather together a group of people who are in a similar situation, in order to do practice sessions. Each person could take turns explaining a leetcode problem on a whiteboard. It would give you interview practice, help you make networking connections, and hopefully make the task less boring and introduce an aspect of accountability. I think you'd have to be careful to make sure that the people involved were friendly and helpful, not make it about one-upmanship. Anyway, that is what I'd do today, if I had the problem that I needed to pass leetcode tests.
I'm responding because I also quit a job years ago to preserve my mental health, so your post resonates with me. When I quit, I was becoming increasingly depressed. I did not have a new job lined up. I did have several years of $$ runway. I also considered it an option to move to a cheaper COL area overseas, if needed, to keep afloat.
Since then, I've mostly taken gig work to provide for myself (freelance/consulting software development - mostly mobile app development, but also web app stuff).
I don't know how typical your experience was for "state work". If I were you, I might try to leverage my previous experience into a new state job, which might turn out better.
My answers to your bullet points aren't really relevant, since I left my last FT job over 10 years ago. But I'll give them anyway.
Locating: In one case, I got a referral from a friend who had interviewed with the company and didn't like the place (he was right, I was more desperate and took the offer). In all other cases, I found the job via a recruiter. However, I don't recommend using a recruiter, and I think you're better off using your network, if you have one. Using recruiters was unpleasant for me, to say the least. I'm not saying all recruiters are bad, just that the ones I interacted with were far from awesome. At least they got my foot in the door before pumping me for the interview questions on the way out the door.
Interviewing: I read a couple of books on interviewing, did a very small amount of l33t code style practice (which I found boring and didn't seem helpful). I looked for sample interview questions and practiced writing down responses. I think live in-person mock interviews would have been helpful, but I didn't have anyone to practice with. I looked back on my old jobs and tried to imagine creative ways of making it sound like I'd been a positive contributor (which I was, but sometimes you feel powerless to make much of an impact at the time, so everything you did seemed pointless looking back at it).
Surviving: My "job lifetime" - defined as how long I can stand a job without feeling like I'm going out of my mind - seemed to be about 1.5 to 3 years (the first 6 months is the honeymoon phase where I'm learning a lot, and then gradually I start to know what's what, and I get disillusioned). It seemed to decrease after each job, which is probably why I decided to go with gig work after my last position. I wish I could tell you about surviving, but I didn't "survive" my jobs very well. You might want to try gamifying things, something that never occurred to me at the time. Since you're planning to quit anyway, pretend that whatever you do doesn't much matter, and just do your job however you want (within reason - nothing illegal!) so that at least you are getting something out of it. Maybe this wouldn't have been possible with your old job. In my jobs, I definitely saw coworkers get away with things that I thought were "wrong," but were clearly tolerated by management, so I think I had more leeway than I realized at the time.
Take work less seriously? It's there to pay the bills. It's a waste of your time on earth, but you also probably don't want to be on the street, which would also be a waste of your time, and much more unpleasant. You might try gig work, if you can find it, and see if that agrees with you. Usually the gigs are a little more transactional, and sometimes you find ones that are actually fun with cool people. Churn is expected - no one finds it strange that you left a gig after 3 months.
You can take the opposite tack and try creating your own work out of what you love, a la Will Shortz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Shortz My feeling is that this is just not possible unless you're pretty narrowly passionate about one thing. And not everyone wants to make their passion into a profession.
I can't entirely understand Google's announcement, but it almost sounded to me like they will forbid sideloading if you're not an "official" dev (gone through their hoops). I also saw something in their statement about wanting to support hobbyists. It sounded like an afterthought.
Plant-based can include some animal products, though. That's the definition I'm familiar with.
Anyway, I'm curious to know how you get your food without packaging. Do you literally grow and can everything yourself?
When I buy salad, it comes pre-washed in a large plastic container. Even when I buy the far more expensive locally grown stuff in the summer, it comes in a plastic bag.
I can get berries in small cardboard boxes, but only during the short window when they're growing locally. Otherwise, if I want berries, my choices are to get them frozen in a plastic bag, or fresh and in a plastic container.
I do buy some foods in steel cans, like beans. If I bought dried beans, they'd come in a plastic bag. Our lentils are shipped in a box and wrapped in a sturdy plastic bag. Then we can get tomatoes in glass bottles.
There are a few things I get without any packaging: bananas, apples, potatoes, onions, broccoli. But those things are in the minority. They are mostly shipped from far away, in bulk in cardboard boxes, I believe. There's another small window when you can get them locally.
https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market#--:...
Anthropology, physics, computer engineering have the three highest unemployment rates in Feb 2025. Computer science is in seventh place at 6.1% unemployment rate.
Wait, so they're angry because people are spending their money on themselves for fun stuff at the end of their lives? Or maybe even using it for un-fun medical care? Rather than handing it over to their kids? I don't know what to say. Except that I'm glad I never had kids.
He also mentions other forms of employment, like raising rare herbs, so maybe he's got a little homegrown operation going that doesn't take much time.
Why do you assume that they are no kids in the neighborhood?
I suppose another option is that they don't actually care if their kids have friends. Perhaps parents are enough, in their view.
Okay but the dude is making $5K/y which means he basically has no job and he sits around in his house all week or goes hiking etc. His most exciting day of adventure will literally consist of taking the bus to the library to check out a book, and bringing it back home (while reading it on the bus, perhaps). He can totally afford to plan his entire day around the event.
> The budget didn't include mortgage/housing cost
True, but I don't think you can get a mortgage for a $29K house. I'm guessing the guy is saving up for his house by sticking in the rat race until he's got his $29K saved up (presumably made easier with his wife?). Then, he shops around for a house on a bus route. I suspect it is possible, especially in a state like NY.
> if the author of this article gets cancer I bet they'll want to visit a hospital where doctors are working 12 hour shifts grinding out the era of "overabundance."
This is one point where I disagree. I'd really rather that doctors were working shorter hours. I don't want someone taking care of me if they're at the end of a 12 hour shift. Forget about the fact that it's so bad for her, it's also bad for me and the level of care that I get.
> Water is $0? Even well water requires some level of upkeep
Oh yeah, we just paid $800 to replace our pressure tank. His roof will need to be replaced one day, the gutters will leak, etc.
I actually think I detect a bit of tongue-in-cheek in the article. I think this guy will do this for a while, enjoy his adventure, and then go do something else.
That's the first thing I thought about.
His budget of $432/mo doesn't include health insurance. But $5K/y probably gets him Medicaid eligibility. Let's assume he's on Medicaid, then. In NY state, that covers quite a lot of dental care, if you believe this: https://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/program/denta... Not saying it's a good option, but it's there.
> Taking the bus that goes 3 times a day is one thing, needing to move stuff is another thing.
What kind of things do you think he might be moving? He probably has just about no possessions with that budget (and a 600 sq ft house). In a pinch, perhaps he can rent a truck from Home Depot. Apparently, there is a Home Depot in Massena, NY, so maybe it's not quite so far out in the boonies as it seems.
Personally, I wouldn't do it - the lack of choice would get very unpleasant very fast. But it could work for some.
I don't know if the tactic worked.
These days, if I were mailing postcards, I'd make sure to add a special QR code to them. That way, if someone went to my sales page using the QR code, I'd have an idea that the postcard had been seen by the right person. Postcards are rather expensive (both the postcard and the stamp). Who wants to keep trying that without knowing it was successful?
I went rock climbing, took some hikes, lifted weights. I watched some YouTube and Netflix, read a newspaper, finished one book and started on another, worked on a side project. Went to a cafe and sat around drinking lattes and playing a mobile game (Pokemon Go). Did laundry, cooked dinners.