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marginalia_nutoday at 9:53 AM5 repliesview on HN

I think it's just information overload. There's so much information everywhere now clamoring at you for attention. Our brains aren't made for processing this much information. Going on a media diet helps. Going completely offline helps even more.

Something I do when I struggle to focus is to add different stripped down user accounts to my computer.

I wanted to dabble in rust so I added a user called ~rs that literally only has access to two application hotkeys (via niri). super+enter opens a terminal, F1 opens the offline rust documentation. Yeah I can just log out and scroll HN, but there's a enough friction to that, that it doesn't really happen very often.


Replies

coffeefirsttoday at 12:39 PM

That's smart. It's also revealing.

It was a choice to make technology that absolutely hammers you with information. It was not the right choice.

I want to build and use stuff that promotes focus. I only have a vague inkling of what this means, but it's quieter, less instantaneous. And it's going to be an uphill battle because everyone else is doing the opposite.

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wormpilledtoday at 10:41 AM

That's a really cool technique.

> Yeah I can just log out and scroll HN, but there's a enough friction to that, that it doesn't really happen very often.

You can make sure the friction is high by having your password be something difficult to remember, written down on a note, and keeping that note somewhere "out of reach".

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Svennortoday at 1:33 PM

Absolutely. There is no more boredom in today's world. Not a second. But boredom is important for the mind to rest.

mettamagetoday at 12:19 PM

> Yeah I can just log out and scroll HN, but there's a enough friction to that, that it doesn't really happen very often.

What an awesome tip!

plastic-enjoyertoday at 10:38 AM

> I think it's just information overload. There's so much information everywhere now clamoring at you for attention. Our brains aren't made for processing this much information. Going on a media diet helps. Going completely offline helps even more.

I wonder how much is real information, i.e. information that truly is related to your life, interests and within your sphere of influence; and how much is just noise that camouflages as information.