And the thing is, if chucking HN (or: chucking HN and similar internet distractions) enables someone to free up enough time and energy to do something good ... they're less likely to write about it on the internet, and so we HN junkies are less likely to hear about it.
The other thing is that when someone stops (say) watching TV and it turns out not to make much difference to their life, we probably won't hear about that either.
I like to rationalize it, and think that at the least, the helpful information, contacts, advice and ideas I get from here balances the time I spend fribbling around.
The other thing is that when someone stops (say) watching TV and it turns out not to make much difference to their life, we probably won't hear about that either.
Sampling bias is a powerful thing.