[jdpigeon]

Speak for yourself, man, cause it can get bad. During the work week I can sometimes go from unconsciousness to TikTok to podcasts to web development to Zoom to Twitter to Spotify to YouTube and back to TikTok and then to sleep without any real breaks in between. One can get into this habit of exhausted yet nervous information seeking -- "doing without doing".

I think three days off might be just what I need.

[cindarin]

I am speaking for myself.

My concern is that when I read these articles, the authors often seem to be speaking for more than themselves. It seems as though they are projecting an unhealthy addiction on all members of society. I see that as likely incorrect and potentially harmful.

I'm not certain what's unhealthy about what you listed other than the self-imposed exhaustion. Humans have been exhausting themselves unhealthily long before the internet came about. If you feel you're doing so, by all means, find the way to give yourself the rest you need.

[rootusrootus]

> It seems as though they are projecting an unhealthy addiction on all members of society. I see that as likely incorrect and potentially harmful.

There are always some folks who show up in these threads who seem to have perfect control. Or maybe a well developed ability to delude themselves, I have no idea.

But out in the real world, my observation is that probably better than 90% of random citizens are addicted to their phones and spend damn near every waking minute on them if there isn't something else to entertain them.

[quest88]

"But out in the real world" - What a dismissive thing to say. The commenter is in the real world. There are multiple types of people in the real world who deal with things differently. Why would you say that?

[rootusrootus]

The only attitude here is yours. "The real world" means "not on HN", in other words out in public.

> Why would you say that?

Because it's true. Go out in public and tell me what fraction of people are buried in their phone. To a rough approximation, all of them.

[jdpigeon]

I'm not sure if I'm more likely than the regular person to be addicted to the internet because I'm so plugged in to the industry or less so because I "know how the sausage is made" and have been very conscious of my usage patterns over years.

Still, I agree that it seems to be a pervasive thing, and I do believe a little reset period like the author describes would, on average, do the population some good.

[cindarin]

I know I personally don't have anything near perfect control.

[WorldMaker]

I think a lot of these articles come from a place of surprise more than necessarily projecting that everyone has the same issues: they recommend everyone try it because it becomes a surprise how much online activities have become the background radiation of our lives. We live with such things as absolutely normal every day things, "addicted" or not, and have stopped questioning their general place in our lives because they are just so "normal". It probably is fine that all of these things have so quickly become "normal", but it is noticeable how shocking it can feel when you take a break from the current "normal", and that probably is worth reminding people to try to take such breaks if only to also experience such "culture shocks". (Whether or not you projecting that as a societal "problem" or not.)

More than 50 years ago one prominent philosopher anticipated an increasing problem with "Future Shock" where the world has just changed so much so rapidly that people would have a harder and harder time dealing with technological life. (This was a spark that ignited a lot of Cyberpunk tropes in the 80s among other things.) With hindsight, it seems clear that we've intentionally and/or inadvertently "boiled the frog" better than philosopher's like that one anticipated. We made technological life the background normal of a huge populace. So much so that it is perhaps a lot more noticeable this sort of "Past Shock" where someone disconnects for long enough to feel it.

Speaking only for myself, about a decade ago I started taking advantage of some of my vacation time to entirely disconnect for at least a week. (In my case, by doing Caribbean cruises where data plans are so expensive to not be worth it.) It is shocking. It does feel healthy and useful to me and my mental health. I don't consider myself an "addict" and have taken a lot of steps to eliminate some of the worse "addictions" of modern internet life (I left Twitter for slower Mastodon feeds, Discord chats with chosen communities, and a broader return to RSS; I dropped all non-comedy news sources; as a couple examples), but there's still so much I take for granted in the current "normal" that is lovely to have at least one, shocking, week long break from each year. I would recommend it to other people. Not because I think other people are "addicted", quite the contrary, I think other people are "normal" and maybe just don't realize how hot the water is all around them (whether or not that's fine to be in such generally hot water; to abuse the metaphor a bit, as my vacations also remind me sometimes it's great to be in a hot tub or sauna for longer than is "strictly healthy" per posted signs, it feels normal and fun and if you don't dehydrate yourself or accidentally heat stroke in the process what was the harm).

(ETA: given some of the other comments in related threads, it may say something that for me it takes at least a full week to really feel the shock. Three days does seem too short to me. I don't know if that says my attempts to eliminate some "addictive" sources have worked better than I think they have or not, but anecdotally, it is interesting data to add.)

[mgkimsal]

There's some distinction between 'using the internet' and 'social media' (which is a somewhat nebulous term, possibly).

Could I go 3 days without 'social media' or 'socializing online'? Yeah - it might be a bit tough as it's definitely a habit, but... it's not 'vital'. I went to the beach last year and ... just sat and read a book. Got a phone call from my wife, which ... perhaps that's 'social media' in some sense? But I had a bit of time away from the standard online social places (including HN) and it was definitely doable.

Three days without 'internet access'... including driving navigation, banking, access to my health information, etc? That would be harder. Doable, but would definitely be a lot more noticeable. Would ideally plan for it a bit in advance :)

[mmmpop]

Okay then what's stopping you from deleting TikTok and quitting Twitter? Sounds like a hell you've created for yourself.

[quest88]

My opinionated guess is many people are afraid of being alone with their thoughts.

[ASalazarMX]

    Dave, your behavior indicates a possible existential crisis in the next hours.
    How about watching people making food in the most ridiculous way on TikTok?

To be fair, being alone with your thoughts can be scary. That's why even before the Internet we read cereal boxes during breakfast, or shampoo bottles in the toilet.

[waynesonfire]

Or, maybe these platforms have A/B tested dopamine hits for its users? Nothing to do with being alone just engineered technology tapping into our normal brain function.

[mmmpop]

I bet you could find some science to back up that opinion because I deeply suspect that's by-design.

[Jerrrry]

Put down the Heroin, John.

[waynesonfire]

> to TikTok

That's your problem. I once logged into tiktok and found myself clicking next for four hours without blinking. Never again have I logged into this addictive platform. It's engineering to keep eyes on screen, scary.