

How to tear down the walls of your echo chamber - cdevroe
http://cdevroe.com/notes/tear-down-that-wall/

======
jacoblyles
How about watch more TV? None of the people I know in Silicon Valley watch the
top 10 shows in America, among those that even have a TV! When I go home for
the holidays I get an education in how the rest of the country thinks through
the television.

~~~
cdevroe
Besides seeing what other people are watching I simply do not see much value
in the top 10 shows on TV in the US.

~~~
jessedhillon
So your post is about broadening your experience, but you're dismissing TV
because it's only use is to show you what other people are experiencing?

I'm not a big TV watcher, but I would certainly say there's some value to a
walled in, introverted person in figuring out why "American Idol" or "Two And
A Half Men" are some of the most popular shows in the US. Most people around
here just assume it's because everyone else is a dumbass.

BTW: <http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/once.html>

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te_platt
How about have kids? My kids are constantly challenging me to reexamine why I
do the things I do. More so challenging me to explain why I make them do the
things I make them do. Not to mention introducing me to new music (I get to
introduce them to my music too) and shows.

~~~
jmj42
I can't up vote this enough. Things from _way_ outside of my confort zone,
just from the last week due to my kids (I have 2 teenage girls):

Coaching Softball (I generally dislike base/softball) Sewing Marathon training
teenage interpersonal relationships

Kids are great for new experiences. Especially if you encourage _them_ to take
on new experiences, invariably you will also get to experience new things.

~~~
agumonkey
Parent/Children interactions are a bit sci-fi to me. Completely modern foreign
for both.

------
blendergasket
One thing I like to do is try to start conversations with people who believe
very different things than I do. For a while I was doing weekly bible readings
with a very interesting group of Christian people (I'm not Christian and have
never been religious). It got heated. I was very challenged and forced to
analyze my own beliefs and the presuppositions I brought to the table. I'm
sure they felt that they had to do the same as well and I think we all became
better people for it.

~~~
jeremyt
My experience has been this is a recipe for becoming an admirably open, yet
unlikable person.

I'm actually in the process of heading in the other direction. In fact, I
think that I recently lost a budding friendship because of a heated political
discussion.

~~~
the_cat_kittles
Sorry to hear that, but its been my experience that a friendship that gets
tripped up by relatively superficial differences like that is probably not a
strong friendship to begin with. I am not old, but the older I get, the less I
feel like religion and politics are relevant to a person's personality. At the
risk of trivializing them too much, I almost think of them as a team
allegiance like rooting for the Packers vs the Steelers... While there are
consequences for what people believe, in terms of a friendship, these things
really don't matter to me.

~~~
jeremyt
Well, in my defense I did say it was a "budding friendship".

However, I literally have never had a positive experience discussing religion
or politics, except with people with whom I already agree.

I have a personal rule to never do so, and I've even attempted to apply that
to the Internet and failed on several occasions. Yet, I regret having tried in
each case.

~~~
blendergasket
I actually made a pretty good friend out of it.

------
ZanderEarth32
Good list, but what's with the "What 90% Less TV" quip? I get it, TV is an
idiot box, there's nothing good on, blah blah. But not all TV is equal. Does
this include content you actively seek out on Netflix or some other on-demand
service that you happen to view on your TV?

This appears as another, "I don't even own a tv" kind of elitism advice.
Without a reason as to why I should stop watching so much tv, or even a basis
for the seemingly arbitrary 90% number I can't take this advice with any kind
of seriousness.

~~~
timjahn
I can't stand this either. People constantly blame the medium (TV) but in
reality, it's (some of) the content that's bad, not the medium. There is
plenty of good television out there.

I enjoy watching certain TV more than others, for various reasons. Sometimes
it's to learn, sometime it's for relaxation.

Where does it stop? Are movies bad too? They're just like TV, except (usually)
on a bigger screen and longer. What about theatrical plays? Are those making
me dumber too?

</rant>

~~~
ZanderEarth32
And why even stop with only visual mediums, why is listening to music any more
fulfilling or beneficial than watching a 30 minute sitcom?

This might really come down to passive viewing versus active viewing,where in
the passive case you're just sitting there flipping channels to pass the time,
consuming whatever is presented to you. This isn't inherently a bad thing
though. If it is relaxing or enjoyable to you, then there is no reason to
stop. Not everything you do in life needs to improve you as a person on some
deep level.

Sometimes, sitting there twiddling your thumbs to relax or recharge is just as
beneficial as reading, learning, growing, coding, building, shipping, etc.

~~~
the_cat_kittles
Absolutely. I've noticed that after days of really hard, fulfilling work, I
find even the dumbest tv still kind of entertaining. Its a one of a number of
ways to be idle without being asleep, and you can be around other people too.
It can be very relaxing. But if I'm not tired, and haven't done a lot of work,
I hate it.

------
dorkusprime
Go to Burning Man.

Along with the outrageously friendly crowd willing to strike up conversations
about anything, it's has the greatest density of diversity that I've ever
seen. In one day, you could easily discuss politics with Republicans,
Democrats, moderates, and extremists; religion with Atheists, Muslims,
Buddhists, and Christians; and science with research scientists, conspiracy
theorists, and mystics.

------
cek
Good list.

Add to it: Get out of the building and talk to customers. Real customers. In
other parts of the world.

~~~
cdevroe
Another great addition. The company I work for, Viddler, has been doing that a
lot more recently. Actually visiting our customers in their offices or in "the
field" in which they work to really learn how they use our product. And it has
been a boon of product information for us.

------
cdevroe
I'd love to know if the HN community has any other tips to add to this list
that I've jotted down.

~~~
delano
Great list. I'd add: rather than ask someone what they do, ask them what they
enjoy doing.

~~~
bstpierre
That's an excellent suggestion -- good way to change up a tired conversation
starter.

My addition to the list would be to learn/practice something that you find
frustrating or just don't know well. E.g. I know C/C++/python well, but I'm a
terrible javascript programmer, so I could "de-echo" by learning JS and
listening to some of the things coming out of the community. Going broader, I
try to do achieve some larger (or smaller) non-programming project on a
regular basis -- build something, grow fruits & vegetables, learn the Cyrillic
alphabet (as an example of something smaller), etc.

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the_cat_kittles
I think learning a new language might be a big gateway too

------
RyanMcGreal
> It is good to know what’s new. But don’t forget to learn from the past or
> from something new.

I have a feeling this post was dashed off rather than thought through.

------
001sky
+1 Project: How to turn an echo-chamber into a concert hall =)

(Ask HN?)

