About a week or so ago, I finally snapped out of it and got off Hacker News (or I should say hckrnews, which is an aggregator for top content I use). I went a week without mindlessly typing the URL in and ending up reading comments. I'm not proud of it, but I just go and read the comments and don't even really look at the articles. The most I'll do is a quick scan. Usually, I just read the title and then jump into the comments to see what people are saying.
Hacker News is pretty much my last online scrolling addiction. I ditched social media in 2013 (wow, 10 years ago?). I avoid the news like a pothole, and I'm on my rollerblades [1]. I use Reddit like a curiosity shop for my latest hobbies and interests. But that's about it.
But Hacker News stuck it out. I'm not sure how it got its hooks in me. Well, I do have some ideas.
Staying relevant; Looking smart
The title says a good chunk of it. When I got into programming as a job, I wanted to be able to talk the talk. I also wanted to make up for feeling like I didn't belong in the club for other reasons.
It's kind of interesting?
Sometimes the content is very fascinating, and the commentary on it is also pertinent and useful. I can't get around that. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it's the most useful, semi-general online community [2]. So, inherently, yeah, it can be interesting.
It's just too negative
The comments are the problem, for me. You've been around the internet to already know that, right? Well, somehow I still read them. And while there are plenty of kind / useful commentary, there's just so much more subtle arguing and pedantry, and I just sit there scrolling like a zombie absorbing it on a break between tasks (when I could be drawing, reading, or just staring out the window and letting my mind wander). Yes, I've seen people on Hacker News say that they've found work through it, talked to really wonderful people, and gotten great advice. I am sure that happens. However, since I'm not commenting, I'm not even engaging enough to see that kind of thing happen.
I don't engage
Speaking of engaging, part of the problem is that I don't. If I put stuff out there, maybe I would feel like a part of a community instead of a lurker who watches other people. Yet, Hacker News also has this weird sort of magic spell over me where I either don't feel smart enough to post on it or that what I'm doing is relevant. I'm not sure. It feels as though I've shown up to a fancy opera in my painting pants while everyone is in white tie.
So, don't read the comments?
This would be a decent solution - but I've struggled to simply not. But since we're celebrating this first week without doomscrolling Hacker News, I will say I think I have a method to avoid the negativity I absorb from it. I've signed up for a weekly digest of the top posts. On the weekend I'll decide if I want to go read the articles (and maybe the comments if it feels pertinent).
Bonus: too much AI
Right now, it feels like at least 30% of the top headlines are all about AI news. It may sound crass, but I don't care about AI-this and AI-that. Yes, I understand people are excited, afraid, and everything in between, that it's ground-breaking, whatever, but mostly it just feels like someone is beating the dust out of a burlap sack so much that I could wear it to the next party I go to (finally, a burlap sack fit to be worn!). [3]
Lacking community
If anything, the reflections that lead me to writing this post have surfaced an insidious and creeping bog creature I'd prefer not to talk about: that I'm not having my needs met for community and socializing. I think I'm using online communities as a stand-in for personal socialization (the latter, in the right settings, being what I would prefer).
I miss the days of going to meet-ups with passionate people; it felt like in those times not everyone was just trying to get a job, but were hacking on something interesting, sharing it unabashedly, and learning new things. Rose-tinted glasses, maybe, but I hope today's post is another step in getting back to a place like that.
Footnotes
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