
We Are Hopelessly Hooked - sergeant3
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/02/25/we-are-hopelessly-hooked/
======
james-skemp
> Even when I’m with my friends, I’ll go online to make a point…. I’m more at
> home.” An Ivy league–bound high school student worries that college is going
> to require “a fair amount of on-the-spot talking.”

Geez. Had a young lady at a concert last night not said something like this to
her friend I don't know that I would have believed it.

Even I've noticed how often I use technology, most of it not on social
networks, per se, but YouTube/HN are pretty dang close.

Sometimes I yearn to be able to sit and just read a paper book, but it's hard
to ignore the allure of the Internet. Even if the majority of it doesn't
enrich my life.

~~~
Outdoorsman
The allure of the Internet is strong...agreed...

I waste more time than I should with the excuse that I'm keeping abreast of
current events...

I'll share this with you...if you read a good book, a really good one--you
pick the subject--you'll benefit from the raw truth that someone really bright
spent a long time organizing their thoughts and presenting the knowledge
they're sharing...

I cannot always say the same about what I stumble upon on the internet...

~~~
colmvp
Buying a kindle and setting boundaries and goals (1-2 books per week, save
interesting long form articles to kindle, no computer an hour before bed, no
addictive games/apps on my phone or computer) really set my mind back on track
after years of Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. Since making this change in late
December I've read a dozen books, countless interesting long form articles,
and significantly cut down my time on gaming and social media. It's also
resulted in fascinating personal discoveries and helped improved my
performance at work and music.

Most importantly it doesn't feel like work. I love discussing various findings
from what I read with friends. And when you read an edifying book, it stays
with you for a long time and helps form a foundation to keep building upon.

~~~
markism
I like this.

I keep an ebook on my phone, so in little gaps I can read a book instead of
ending up on social media. This doesn't lend itself to many books, but I end
up reading around one a week this way.

I also keep Reddit and Facebook blocked on my computer, and don't have the
apps on my phone. It keeps me from habitually typing in the URL or tapping the
app and derailing myself from anything productive I was doing.

A problem I have is finding good long form content. Usually I find things
through HN and Reddit, but that lends itself to mindless browsing. How do you
usually find long form content?

~~~
wallacoloo
The most conventional way to find long-form content (i.e. novels) is probably
to use a digital library. I can recommend
[https://openlibrary.org/](https://openlibrary.org/) which is just an
unbelievably awesome project that makes over 1 million books available free-
to-download in a searchable catalog (most are public domain).

Depending on where you live, it's quite likely that your city's physical
libraries also have an online presence. This gives you access to more recent
popular releases, but at the cost that most of them have some archaic system
wherein they simulate a limited number of "copies" that can be in circulation
at any time and they mostly come in some format that requires a special device
to read (e.g. a kindle, or perhaps a kindle phone app).

There's also Amazon.com, but with the same limitation as above. You're not
going to find .pdf or .txt book formats in large stores or region-based
libraries.

The author also mentioned fanfiction communities as a place where people tend
to be especially friendly/supportive on the internet. From my experience,
there _are_ actually some really great self-published works out there (fan-
based and wholly original) by hobbyist writers. And this avenue is unique in
that it's especially easy to discuss the book with the author and with other
readers online. You can probably find _something_ of interest at
[http://nanowrimo.org/forums](http://nanowrimo.org/forums) (National Novel
Writing Month forums) or, if you identify with some fandom, you can consult
[http://fanfiction.net](http://fanfiction.net), though I've heard mixed things
about the quality of the latter. Ironically for you, I find most of my long-
form literature via some specific reddit book-sharing threads. It's actually
the primary reason I even have a reddit account.

------
abalashov
After 4 years of iPhone and 3 years of Android, I got a Blackberry Classic in
December 2014. A year later, I couldn't be happier; it's the first smartphone
I've ever owned about which I've said that.

It's good for phone calls and e-mail. It begrudgingly plays host to a few
native apps for Blackberry OS, but not a whole lot. If I really want to use
something like Facebook, I use the mobile browser version, but it's enough
work to not mindlessly reach for it. So, the device is good for objective work
things and not that much else. Its excellent physical keyboard also makes
typing less frustrating and cognitively stultifying, since I can do 40-50 WPM
on the thing with nearly 100% accuracy.

But getting away from all the apps and the notification overload has made my
life considerably less anxious, if not ideally so. I'm still very OCD about
being on top of my e-mail, but that's primarily due to the 24/7 always-on
nature of my business rather than being glued to the handset per se. Every
once in a while, I miss the convenience of some Android or iOS app or another,
but for the most part it's a nonissue, and the upside of the liberation
definitely outweighs the inconvenience.

~~~
seivan
No performance issues? How about UX issues? Not having fingerprint auth on the
laptop for sudo is annoying enough.

~~~
abalashov
No, oddly enough; it's as snappy and responsive as ever. And I like the
Blackberry OS UX very much, although it's clearly all deprecated now. The
newest Blackberry product is the Priv, an Android-based phone.

------
bobbles
I just disable all notifications other than SMS and phone calls and life is
good

~~~
bjelkeman-again
I have essentially had my smartphone setup like that since I got the first
one. It really isn't worth having all these notification disturbing my life.

~~~
mixedCase
It really feels like most of us who were early adopters, and therefore the
people who other people used to look weird at because of it, learnt how to
best use the devices as an addition to our life rather than its foundation due
to sheer social pressure to not be considered "the weird guys".

And now the tables have turned, to put it mildly, and a lot of people are
growing up with the tech and not enough people around them to point out all
the experiences they're missing out on because they're servicing a
notification manager.

~~~
disgruntledphd2
I often feel that it may have been that we were already addicted to the
internet, and thus were a little more inoculated to the newer version.

Conversely, a lot of people who didn't really like computers ten years ago are
now hopelessly addicted to their phones. So maybe its just more practice, and
we can look forward to more people doing this as times goes on.

If successful phone-based VR takes off though, we're all screwed ;)

------
ciconia
I have also reached this sad conclusion about myself, and also others around
me: my wife, my parents, brother, friends, and now I'm also starting to notice
how my kids are slowly becoming addicted.

Having quit smoking and TV, I sure hope I can quite my smartphone too, and get
my family also to kick the habit.

~~~
analog31
What saddens me is that the time my kids spend passively _consuming_
electronics and software, is the time that I spent at the same age, learning
how to actively _create_ electronics and software.

------
rmchugh
As developers we need to take a moral stance and refuse to develop products
that engender addiction.

~~~
kough
Be careful – that's _your_ moral stance, not necessarily the _only_ moral
stance. "Developers" don't "need" to agree with your stance, that's just what
you'd like.

Would you rather someone gets addicted to Candy Crush or to alcohol?

~~~
scintill76
I would not be surprised to hear about relationships being destroyed, people
being crippled emotionally, living in shame and depression, etc. over a gaming
addiction and the consequences, just as we know classically comes from alcohol
addiction. So no, it's not a meaningful choice, I wouldn't wish either on
someone.

IIRC I saw a Reddit post about someone's S.O. lying about hundreds or
thousands of dollars of in-app gaming purchases, lying about quitting, etc.. I
couldn't find it, but here's one about a person recognizing their own problem:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/StopGaming/comments/3oj8zg/spent_ab...](https://www.reddit.com/r/StopGaming/comments/3oj8zg/spent_about_3500_plus_in_in_app_purchases_on_a/)

~~~
EdwardDiego
> I would not be surprised to hear about relationships being destroyed, people
> being crippled emotionally, living in shame and depression, etc. over a
> gaming addiction and the consequences, just as we know classically comes
> from alcohol addiction. So no, it's not a meaningful choice, I wouldn't wish
> either on someone.

There are very real and very severe physical effects of alcohol addiction, so
the two are in no way comparable.

A Candy Crush addiction is most equivalent to a gambling addiction.

~~~
scintill76
> There are very real and very severe physical effects of alcohol addiction,
> so the two are in no way comparable.

I didn't name any physical effects. I did compare emotional and interpersonal
effects of Candy Crush/gambling to those of alcoholism, so unless you disagree
with those specific comparisons, gaming addiction is by definition comparable,
in at least a few ways.

I get your point, but I reject the GP's and your implication that gaming
addiction is almost benign because it has no physical effects, or that we have
to choose between two evils here, or that malicious marketers of alcohol
(maybe tobacco would be a better one here) and deliberate designers of
addictive games aren't both morally culpable for hurting people.

(And on the physical effects, I wonder if gaming can alter brain chemistry
enough that there actually could be physical effects... I don't know enough
about it. Here's something from the article along those lines: "According to
Eyal, checking in delivers a hit of dopamine to the brain, along with the
craving for another hit.")

~~~
EdwardDiego
> I reject the GP's and your implication that gaming addiction is almost
> benign

Yeah, that's why I compared it to a gambling addiction. Because gambling
addictions are well known for the mildness.

------
GoToRO
I try to have at least one day a week in which I stay unhooked. I will use the
phone just to call family while somewhere in nature doing nothing. It clears
my mind and helps me get over procrastination.

The first 5 minutes are the worst. Then you realize how bad it must be if 5
minutes feel like an eternity.

------
kingkawn
everyone is gonna get over it soon the internet is getting boring

~~~
rolodato
There will always be juicier content to satisfy Internet addiction, made
possible by new hardware and faster connections if necessary.

~~~
kingkawn
not if we get tired of the premise.

------
xyzzy4
I've done a few experiments with myself where I went entirely without checking
my phone and favorite websites for a week at a time. I found myself much more
tired (either willpower depletion or not being stimulated as much), and my
productivity didn't really increase.

~~~
alanwatts
Could this possibly have been just a temporary hangover/withdrawal period
after which productivity would later increase?

------
jarjoura
If there's an addiction I'm stuck with, I'd rather it be a smart phone than
anything else on the list.

------
api
I liked the smoking reference. Years ago a friend explained that part of the
allure of cigs was to have something to do with your hands so you can look
busy and avoid awkwardness. I remember thinking a few years ago that smart
phones are the new smoking.

Only they are more antisocial. When people smoke they talk.

~~~
Animats
Yes. Some of the decline in smoking is attributed to smartphones.

------
skybrian
I'm curious about whether this is true:

"It’s not the indelible record that Snapchat’s teenage users fear. It’s the
sin of premeditated curating — looking like you’re trying too hard."

------
Animats
I think this was worse a few years ago than it is now. At least in Silicon
Valley. I'm seeing fewer teens glued to phones than five years ago. They all
have them, but don't seem compelled to look at them constantly. Maybe this is
just something that happens right after smartphones are introduced, and once
people get used to them, they're not overused.

------
markatkinson
My addiction to my cellphone scares me. I might retire my smartphone for a bit
and go back to a feature phone... Till I'm healed.

~~~
pastycrinkles
I took it a step further and just use my home phone now. Not necessarily to
escape any sort of addiction or privacy issues of feature phones (though the
latter does cross my mind occasionally), but because when you retire a
smartphone, the majority of your traffic is no longer data, but calls and SMS.

The codec used in wireline telephony is an order of magnitude better, so it
starts to make a lot more sense;
[http://www50.zippyshare.com/v/sJG1ch4b/file.html](http://www50.zippyshare.com/v/sJG1ch4b/file.html)

As for SMS, it's nothing Google Voice or any number of different services
doesn't cover.

------
tubpler
>argued that phones and texting disrupt the ability to separate from one’s
parents, and raise other obstacles to adulthood

What 'separation'? What 'obstacles'? Do the parents have phones? Vague and
unfalsifiable.

Just to put this into context plenty of people are addicted to such diverse
things bread, cheese, breast milk, or thinking about physics. These are
considered OK things. So any problem is to do with the addict or what the
people around him think and not with the substance, medium or ritual.

The reason we're bothered its because of the "somebody think of the
children"-effect. Also because people hold their phones up in front of them
when they're talking or walking instead of attending to polite but boring
conversation or to traffic or muggers or tripping hazards. This _is_ a problem
with the medium which will eventually be solved by further technological
developments.

------
Hoasi
It's not an extremely complicated problem. The solution is use a phone to talk
to people (if you must). That's what a phone is supposed to do. You probably
do not need all the other stuff. It's all a matter of choice.

~~~
AznHisoka
I blame Steve Jobs. He created this mess :)

