I am very curious about Facebook groups: did you find good ones? My experience with Facebook content has been total garbage and I'd like to know if my experience is just circumstantial.
Yep, there are some amazing FB groups out there still. Some of them are even still Public groups, which I lurk in only because of how the Public model works, but the content is incredible. SF books, SF movies, wargaming, some linuxes, specific ham radio models, specific niche meme groups too, and that's just what I've found useful. But also it's a terrific environment for retro things. Retro TTRPGs, programming languages you used to use a lot, stores you used to like, even.
(If you're into art, be sure to check out art and artist groups/pages. People wonder where Flickr went and it's right there, not Instagram.)
Keep in mind that some of these groups actively use their Files and Photos sections which can be like gold.
FB's participation model does incentivize things like simple brigading & passive-aggressive behavior, though (IMO), so it's also a good idea to get a feel for the quality of discourse and moderation before diving in if you are interested in participating rather than lurking.
It's really too bad the participation model has to be so static across the entire platform, because some of the groups are one or two customizations/tweaks away from being really epic with regard to community particpation. You could solve a lot of the social problems there with a more dynamic approach to the software design & provisioning.
Advice to myself (a while back when I wondered the same thing)... put the phone down once you've reached the end of page 1, and the first page of new submissions. Life is for living, tech is for 'doing', and anything more than 20 minutes online is procrastination.
You're a different person with different requirements, but I thought I'd just throw in my 2c.
PS: I rarely keep it to 20 minutes a day but I try
Something to keep in mind is that this is a balance, like everything else in life.
As humans we are integration machines. We need to take in novel information in order to combine it and produce new novel information. HN definitely helps with that, as the bullshit here is at a minimum with interesting technical information all over the place. Its honestly a gold mine, similar to what Slashdot was in yesteryear.
I have a similar question to OP: when HN dies like Slashdot, what's next?
Honestly my guess is that I won't get a solid answer in this thread, but some time after HN dies I'll just find myself on the next thing just like I found HN years after I left Slashdot
Well said. I've been thinking about my "information diet" a lot recently, and I've been wondering what I've gotten out of it. I spend so much time on HN, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit--to the tune of well over ten thousand hours over the past few years, and that's a conservative estimate.
After all of that, I still want more and more, but I'm not sure what exactly I want more of and I don't know if I've gained anything from it in the first place. I don't even feel particularly satisfied visiting any of these sites--usually some mixture of frustration, anxiousness, or some other negative emotion. Occasionally I'll find an interesting thread here, a funny Reddit thread, or an informative Youtube video, but the "hit" goes away relatively quickly, I forget all about it, and minutes--sometimes seconds!--later I'm craving the next hit.
That's my long way of saying: Yes, I agree with you and with this advice. Put the phone down after hitting the end of Page 1. Don't refresh the page every few minutes. Don't aimlessly open tab after tab with articles and videos you'll "eventually" get to (I have over five hundred tabs open right now on this laptop). There's no end in sight, and the road itself hasn't been too satisfying either.
They aren't actually. The comparison isn't apt because we aren't debating the differences or merits of reading on a screen versus reading on paper. That's a false dilemma. There are a multitude of ways to waste time at a computer and the posts you are responding to provided a few of examples of them, including watching videos on YouTube and surfing Reddit.
If those activities are the same to you as reading a book could outline the reasons why?
As a gateway to YC, Eternal September is a feature not a bug...HN is designed for people who are continuously curious about new things.
Unlike a Usenet group, there's not a topic silo. The cure for seeing 'the same old thing weariness' is submitting something that isn't the same old thing.
If you curate your twitter using Twitter’s “List” feature you can create some great productive feeds
I’ve been using it for 3-4 years, I recommend checking it out if you haven’t
I use it to curate my tech news. Some example lists I have
- Data Visualization
- systems programming
- Frontend engineering
- NodeJS
- Databases
- Dev Conferences
- etc..
-
I like to think of this site as 'pre news'. Its intended for artfully crafted, Rube Goldberg-esque ideas, that have some merit for a microscopic minority, of a) billionaires and/or b) comedians; c) and/or James Bond villains.
38 comments
[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 83.8 ms ] threadSteemit
Lemmy
Raddle
Reddit
Tildes
Metafilter
Lancebase
Folkd
Pythonic news
Echo js
Littr.me
20-things
Lobste.rs
Hackaday
Southgate amateur radio news
Soylent news
Kottke.org
Federated thingies like Mastodon
(Drum roll please...)
Facebook groups
Twitter lists
Email lists
(If you're into art, be sure to check out art and artist groups/pages. People wonder where Flickr went and it's right there, not Instagram.)
Keep in mind that some of these groups actively use their Files and Photos sections which can be like gold.
FB's participation model does incentivize things like simple brigading & passive-aggressive behavior, though (IMO), so it's also a good idea to get a feel for the quality of discourse and moderation before diving in if you are interested in participating rather than lurking.
It's really too bad the participation model has to be so static across the entire platform, because some of the groups are one or two customizations/tweaks away from being really epic with regard to community particpation. You could solve a lot of the social problems there with a more dynamic approach to the software design & provisioning.
https://devurls.com/
https://sciurls.com/
https://techurls.com/
I mainly stick to HN, Lobste.rs, and a few tech related Reddits.
https://theweblist.net/
https://readspike.com/
Thanks
You're a different person with different requirements, but I thought I'd just throw in my 2c.
PS: I rarely keep it to 20 minutes a day but I try
Still I get to the point where I can't think/function anymore, and then find something to do/surf something/get those points
As humans we are integration machines. We need to take in novel information in order to combine it and produce new novel information. HN definitely helps with that, as the bullshit here is at a minimum with interesting technical information all over the place. Its honestly a gold mine, similar to what Slashdot was in yesteryear.
I have a similar question to OP: when HN dies like Slashdot, what's next?
Honestly my guess is that I won't get a solid answer in this thread, but some time after HN dies I'll just find myself on the next thing just like I found HN years after I left Slashdot
Hackaday was already listed, that's nuts so much creativity on there.
IEEE video friday's is good imo regarding robotics stuff.
After all of that, I still want more and more, but I'm not sure what exactly I want more of and I don't know if I've gained anything from it in the first place. I don't even feel particularly satisfied visiting any of these sites--usually some mixture of frustration, anxiousness, or some other negative emotion. Occasionally I'll find an interesting thread here, a funny Reddit thread, or an informative Youtube video, but the "hit" goes away relatively quickly, I forget all about it, and minutes--sometimes seconds!--later I'm craving the next hit.
That's my long way of saying: Yes, I agree with you and with this advice. Put the phone down after hitting the end of Page 1. Don't refresh the page every few minutes. Don't aimlessly open tab after tab with articles and videos you'll "eventually" get to (I have over five hundred tabs open right now on this laptop). There's no end in sight, and the road itself hasn't been too satisfying either.
Well, at least then you'll probably be really good at it.
If those activities are the same to you as reading a book could outline the reasons why?
Unlike a Usenet group, there's not a topic silo. The cure for seeing 'the same old thing weariness' is submitting something that isn't the same old thing.
I’ve been using it for 3-4 years, I recommend checking it out if you haven’t
I use it to curate my tech news. Some example lists I have - Data Visualization - systems programming - Frontend engineering - NodeJS - Databases - Dev Conferences - etc.. -
https://www.halfbakery.com