Hacker News nurtures an addiction like nothing I've ever seen before. Facebook, Instagram and TikTok don't even come close. I wonder if we give "algorithms" too much credit, considering HN does such a good job of capturing my attention without them.
I agree. I think part of it is I feel like I actually might miss out on learning something interesting/career improving if I stop reading HN whereas to me the other platforms are more pure entertainment. I find it’s generally harder to do something in moderation than to give up cold turkey and when you’re worried you might miss something important if you stop all together, cold turkey isn’t really an option.
Also discussing things with people who like discussing things is like the best way to learn and internalize things. And HN has a lot of people who like discussing and actually read what you say and pokes holes at things you miss, it is like having someone review your thoughts for free.
I want to build a community with the breadth of topics of Reddit, the communication skills of HN, and the non-nonsense rules of StackOverflow: some levity would be ok, but the goal is serious conversation, not karma.
I hate how reddit's top comments are always off-topic attempts to be funny.
