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Ask HN: Where do HN readers spend their online downtime?

44 points by mnoorani ↗ HN
I recently decided to stop using social media. Since then, my online downtime is pretty much spent on reading HN. But it can only go so far. So I'm looking for other fun yet informative places to kill some downtime.

Where do you spend your online downtime?

33 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 68.4 ms ] thread
scottporad
Imgur. (Though it’s not as good s as it used to be.)
ipnon
Marginal Revolution[0] is like HN for economics. It's another community where the value of the posts is derived from the comments they generate and the community that develops around them.

The Financial Times, too.[1] People will leave borderline inside information in the comments section of articles. The readership is predominantly British and the understated humor and jabs can be hilarious.

Non-profit article aggregators with open comments and persistent users seems to be the sweet spot for an entertaining and mentally stimulating time on the centralized web. I don't use any for profit social media platforms because the psychoengineering is too strong for me. Anytime I reinstall Reddit or Twitter I'll remove it in disgust a week later after realizing the amount of time I've sunk without enough benefit.

[0] marginalrevolution.com [1] ft.com

jayzalowitz
I worked for the FT. The comment section is so cared for its amazing.
ipnon
How does the FT take are of the comment section? Is there something commenters can do to contribute?
agustif
By moderating like any other site I guess, trying to keep flamewars and trolls away, enforcing civilised discussion, curating the comments by participating themselves on the conversation...

Just my educated guess

non-entity
Various discord servers, mostly nowadays, or skipping through YouTube watching various content from horror stuff to technical stuff.
diehunde
Any tips on getting started with Discord?
yogodojo
r/mealtimevideos

It's also like HN, aggregating the best videos from YouTube.

Fiveh2751
Waitbutwhy.com is a resourceful website for almost everything about life...
tmaly
FS blog and podcast have some really interesting material.

I like their weekly newsletter. It gives me a good recap. To be honest, I have grown tired of the news under the stay at home order.

Most of my free time now has been back out in the garden now that Spring is in full boom. I build a replacement raised bed last year.

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frompdx
> So I'm looking for other fun yet informative places to kill some downtime.

I usually try to use my downtime for personal development. In particular, I read books about programming/cs topics that interest me. Recently that has been Forth. I also try to exercise at least four times a week for an hour or more each session. Beyond that, I try to indulge my hobbies. This week I have been scanning my old film negatives.

enjeyw
LessWrong has a very high ratio of thought provoking content and conversation on it.
nishparadox
This I concur. Highly thought-provoking and takes you places which otherwise you don't normally.
text_exch
I get an interesting article emailed to me every day from Thinking About Things [0], so I use that to go down some rabbit hole.

[0] www.thinking-about-things.com

zzo38computer
IRC, mainly.
mraza007
How do you access IRC on phone especially iPhone
zzo38computer
With a IRC client. I don't know what (or if any) IRC clients are available for iPhone, but I think you can try searching in the App Store, maybe. (I am not so sure; I don't use iPhone)
quickthrower2
Famous ones, maybe “too obvious to mention” would be dailywtf and xkcd. Even an occasional dilbert is fun!
econcon
I watch YouTube videos without engaging in comments.

Mostly related to machining and physics and electronics.

jagannathtech
I do the same thing, just the topics are different - permaculture, food forests, urban/terrace gardening, off-grid living, survival prep etc
cpach
Just a thought: Maybe start a chat channel and invite some people?
snazz
This is a great suggestion! One of my friends started a Discord server for 50 or so acquaintances and it's been nice to talk to each other even if we aren't seeing each other in person. It feels much more real and personal than most social media sites since it's all people that I know in real life.
kleer001
> stop using social media

>downtime is pretty much spent on reading HN

I know what you mean, but you can see the irony here, right?

It's a matter of scale, but still. I guess a city of 2 million is a bit different from a town of 200 thousand, or 20 for that matter.