Re:The Facebook Fallacy
by larrys on Saturday July 21, 2012 @02:35PM
(#4275420)
"Wonder how much lost productivity are they creating? How many man-years? How many people making purchases for things they never wanted? How many people playing games with imaginary farms and such for hundreds or thousands of hours?"
How much of a difference is there with that and time spent on HN?
Before anyone jumps at that you might say FB is pure entertainment, voyeurism and HN is learning with bits of enjoyment and entertainment (and maybe some voyeurism as well).
But the truth is much learning is actually enjoyment not something you have a reasonable chance of needing at any time. Sure it enhances your life and sure maybe it makes the rest of your day go better. (But so would a nap in the afternoon, right?) And all of these things create "addicts" in a way and the question is also "how many people". HN has setting for to much activity so this has been recognized as an issue.
The problem with all of these things (FB, HN, Twitter) is that they are addicting and so there is no doubt lost productivity. So is TV. But that was generally confined to being in the right place (around a TV) at the right time (not at work).
How much of a difference is there with that and time spent on HN?
Before anyone jumps at that you might say FB is pure entertainment, voyeurism and HN is learning with bits of enjoyment and entertainment (and maybe some voyeurism as well).
But the truth is much learning is actually enjoyment not something you have a reasonable chance of needing at any time. Sure it enhances your life and sure maybe it makes the rest of your day go better. (But so would a nap in the afternoon, right?) And all of these things create "addicts" in a way and the question is also "how many people". HN has setting for to much activity so this has been recognized as an issue.
The problem with all of these things (FB, HN, Twitter) is that they are addicting and so there is no doubt lost productivity. So is TV. But that was generally confined to being in the right place (around a TV) at the right time (not at work).