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327 sats \ 3 replies \ @Undisciplined 2 Apr \ on: The network state and the hyper-spherical economy mostly_harmless
Great post, as usual.
I'm with you in finding many of these social relationships more fulfilling than many of the ones I have out in meatspace: there's much more common ground, much more insight, a broader array of perspectives, etc. Some of these relationships even feel like genuine friendships. Hopefully they are.
I guess the big difference between the internet as a place vs a new colony is that our bodies are still located somewhere where some jerk or other claims to rule them and intends to exercise that claim. Otherwise, I like the framing that the internet is a real place and certain things are in it. Those things are not subject to the rulers of other places.
Surprisingly, I actually do feel like I spend a healthy amount of time here, despite it being a large amount. I have my priorities pretty well straightened out: family>leisure>work. Work is a means to the higher priorities, so if I'm hanging out here instead of working, no biggie. If my wife needs me to help out with something or my daughter wants to play, then I do that. Plus, I spend negligible time on any other internet activities at this point.
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potato potato
(that saying doesn't work well in text, does it?)
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Surprisingly, I actually do feel like I spend a healthy amount of time here, despite it being a large amount. I have my priorities pretty well straightened out
It does sound like that. It seems like you've done what we all say we'll do (get your life to broadly reflect your priorities and values) but often don't. A thing I'm wrestling with, and starting to feel like I'm making progress on, is why some of the online stuff feels bad sometimes, even though it's no great sin, objectively, and even though subjectively I'm sometimes doing what I think I should be doing, respecting the priority classes.
I think it has something to do with the mental modes that you're operating in. We talk about switch costs in terms of deadweight loss vs productivity you could have had (well, nobody uses that language, but that's what it is) but there are other costs. I was talking with @k00b about that someplace around here; will do a proper post eventually. But there seems to be some damage you take from it. I think a Disciplined approach, as @davidw suggests, may be able to mitigate some of it, but haven't cracked it yet.
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