Wil brings up doomscrolling addiction, and one thing he’s been trying lately as an alternative (trying to train yourself to recognize the impulse and then doing something creative instead) in his latest post.

For me while that’s very good advice that I’m really happy to pass on, it doesn’t always work because one of the appeals of scrolling over being creative or doing chores or doing healthy things or even over other cultural consumtion over binging TV or reading novels is the lowered stakes. The trashiness of scrolling or YouTube is itself inherently relaxing, some how. We fritter our lives away on things we regret spending our time on (like reading web forums or rewatching old YouTube clips) because doing real things is scary or requires focus or “depletes” willpower. And I’m always looking for new ways to fix that because ultimately it’s a problem I haven’t entirely solved. I keep relapsing.

Digital minimalism.

Dinosaur Comics.

Why go somewhere that makes you unhappy even once — let alone dozens of times each day, logging on every time you have a free moment??

It wasn’t made to hook us and mess with us, but since, uh, mistakes were made, that’s what ended up happening.

Our best hope is to iterate, to notice these behaviors and try to fix them with better design. Designing for convenience has backfired and created addiction. But so has designing with deliberate hoops and obstacles.

Great but sad anecdote on the online world.

I’m not sure the answer is unplugging; maybe the kids have a better understanding of “the global village” than I do. But I agree with the poster what the problem is.

Digital minimalism.

SVT tar upp internetberoendefrågan och digital minimalism.

Dom håller sig till grunderna, typ “jag har en knapptelefon ute men internet hemma”, “det är upp till individen att ta eget ansvar” osv.

“So, your kids must love the iPad?” I asked Mr. Jobs, trying to change the subject. The company’s first tablet was just hitting the shelves. “They haven’t used it,” he told me. “We limit how much technology our kids use at home.”

Oh, okay. So you created something dangerous and bad…?