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Vladimir_Golovin comments on Akrasia Tactics Review 2: The Akrasia Strikes Back - Less Wrong
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I'm curious (nonjudgementally): do you get your news now from non-mainstream sources, or do you stay away from news altogether? I ask because I am considering trying this anti-akrasia tactic myself, but am unsure regarding the details.
I don't read mainstream news sources, and I don't participate in social networks, but I do read technical, professional and scientific news.
Here's how I get the news: If a mainstream story is important, I'll hear about it from co-workers or family. Also, high-magnitude stories (e.g. Snowden / NSA, or yesterday's 5 year sentence for AlexeI Navalny) usually appear on non-mainstream news sources.
The point of quitting news is not stopping being aware of what happens around you. The point is to avoid their negative effects (scrambling the mind, incorrectly perceiving the environment as more dangerous than it is / overestimating the probability of dangerous events happening to me, cortisol release, etc).
Here are some good articles on the topic (you may recognize some of the authors):
Also, I don't think quitting news is an anti-akrasia tactic. It's more similar to hygiene, or not eating fast food.
Your heuristic for getting the news checks out in my experience, so that seems worth trying.
I wouldn't be surprised if we've both seen plenty of Snowden/NSA on Hacker News.
Thanks for the links.
And while I agree with you that quitting the news would likely be intellectually hygienic and emotionally healthy, it would probably also work as an anti-akrasia tactic in the specific case of cutting out something I often turn to to avoid actual work. Similar to the "out of sight, out of mind" principle, but more "out of habit, out of mind".
Mainstream news are a dopamine loop magnified by an intermittent reinforcement schedule. You keep clicking for more and checking the sources every 10 minutes. Plus you can't break out of the loop intellectually because the news content switches you from the 'intellectual mode' into the 'tribal mode' or even the 'imminent danger' mode. In the absence of mainstream news, technical news alone were never that addictive to me.