[Scubabear68]

I completely disagree with the article’s core premise. I have read voraciously for my entire life since I was a little kid. Maybe much of it wasted, yet tidbits of knowledge I have gained over the years of reading come up constantly, and give me a bit of a leg up in conversations.

HN is a big part of that, I can read about a wide array of technologies and processes and science that I normally would never encounter. And without fail, some number of those topics will come up in work conversations and I can speak somewhat intelligently on the topic.

The same is true even for fiction. Having read some semi-obscure book long ago may be a connection I have with a new acquaintance.

Again, a lot of it is wasted, it there’s no way to know exactly which bits will never come up, and which will.

[knallfrosch]

If you like reading and aquiring knowledge, then by definition you can't waste your time reading or aquiring useless knowledge.

I do however, agree with the article in that you should actively choose what you read, instead of having content pushed towards you.

[zeroCalories]

The articles point is that this time spent has a horrible roi, which I tend to agree with. You should acknowledge that time spent on Hacker News is entertainment, not education. If you really want to get better at something you should just do it. Only place I disagree is that I think studying one or two good books on a topic can give you a good foundation to start on. Like, if you have no experience with starting a business, maybe something like "Small Business for Dummies" just to get started would be a good idea. Def not 30 meme books and blogs.

[Scubabear68]

I am a technology consultant with mid sized global consulting services firm. Reading Hacker News is both entertainment and professional research. I get tremendous hands on insight into technology that directly informs my own thinking on various technologies, and have served as a great early warning system of “here there be dragons” in various products.

[pcthrowaway]

It sounds like you may have just read the title. The article seems to be specifically about the tendency to use information seeking as a means of procrastination.