benjaopazoc

We did, until this morning

I did the same thing this year, and I agree it's been one of the best decisions I've made. I'm happier, and my mind feels calmer, with less noise. I've started reading a lot, and even writing (I started a blog, and one of my first posts was about exactly this, if you want you can check it out [1])

I've also tried to stay away from the news. I have a very long list of uBlock Origin filters [2] to hide certain words and topics on Reddit (even if its politically tangent, it gets blocked), and it works amazingly well. I hate that I have to go to such lengths to avoid the worst of the internet, but I love the freedom of mind I've gained, like really it feels liberating instead of boring.

One last thing: I've started to notice that the corporate claws are no longer in my head. On the train, I see something like 50–70% of people scrolling through algorithmically curated feeds, and I think about how much influence Zuck and company have over what so many people see and think, with almost no effort. The thing is, I feel like the "old man yells at cloud" meme, like I am the crazy person doing crazy things, but I feel better this way, so I will keep doing it.

[1]: https://blog.benjaopazoc.cl/2026/09/social-media-is-ridiculo...

[2]: https://github.com/benja-opazo/ublock-politics

Negativity doesn't have to fill every space, even if you can find negativity everywhere. Maybe what HN has implicitly (and maybe explicitly) nurtured is intellectual curiosity for the sake of intellectual curiosity, which, in mi opinion es very orthogonal to negativity (even if it's intellectual adjacent).

I understand that maybe this is not what everyone wants (or understands) from HN, but I do sympathize with the other comment: after visiting HN I'd rather be happy and curious that angered and curious