What have you recently tried, and failed at?

Emile

Kaj Sotala said:

[I]f you punish yourself for trying and failing, you stop wanting to try in the first place, as it becomes associated with the negative emotions. Also, accepting and being okay with the occasional failure makes you treat it as a genuine choice where you have agency, not something that you're forced to do against your will.

So maybe we should celebrate failed attempts more often ... I for one can't think of anything I've failed at recently, which is probably a sign that I'm not trying enough new things.

So, what specific things have you failed at recently?

Kaj Sotala said:

[I]f you punish yourself for trying and failing, you stop wanting to try in the first place, as it becomes associated with the negative emotions. Also, accepting and being okay with the occasional failure makes you treat it as a genuine choice where you have agency, not something that you're forced to do against your will.

So maybe we should celebrate failed attempts more often ... I for one can't think of anything I've failed at recently, which is probably a sign that I'm not trying enough new things.

So, what specific things have you failed at recently?

It's possible, but the issue is that the sentiment is different for different sites. For example, if one of the sites I went to was a tumblr with smiling faces on it, and then I stopped going to that tumblr and I was less happy, the intermittent reinforcement wouldn't be the important mechanism. Some of the sites- like Facebook- were very much a "almost none of this is going to be interesting enough to devote time to, but at least it's novel" resource, and I don't miss them when I'm not going there. So the sites that I do miss must be giving me something, but it's not obvious yet what.

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What have you recently tried, and failed at?

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What have you recently tried, and failed at?

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