sotajensede

Signed in just to a agree with this. Over the years, I have seen many people bring up some trite form of online reading in an attempt to raise it to the level of what we typically think of when referring to book reading. It's a stance I really can't take seriously, both as a concept and due to personal experience. "The C Programming Language" did not give me vivid dreams or boost my writing skills, general creativity, and vocabulary when I first read it. A mid-level sci-fi book from the 80s, when I haven't done any for-fun reading in a while, does. There is clearly a cognitive difference between the very act of consuming each of these. In comparison, social media posts or news articles are far closer on the broad spectrum of reading to the the like of road signs and subscriber agreements. The mechanical act of reading is simply not equivalent over the broad range of content that can be read, and so its effects on the mind are also not equivalent. Related? Sure, but only by the fundamental understanding of symbols and language. Apologies for the rant.

In the 5th paragraph and in the title subtext, the author bemoans the fact that all of the other for-profit social media websites are for entertainment. This reeks of echo chamber nonsense to me. ALL social media is essentially entertainment for ~98% of users if they are honest with themselves. There are absolutely cases where Facebook is used to keep in touch and keep track of family and friends, certain Reddit communities can be a resource for hobbyists and professionals, Twitter contains breaking news. But the majority of page views on all of these platforms are for entertainment and always have been. If you consider these platforms to be important professional and/or technical tools, you probably aren't a frequent user and only go there via Google search or you are a writer for the Verge or some other publication that takes itself too seriously.

> I'd say you probably have a lot more free time than you think you do

Not to sound harsh, this is just how I frame these sorts of things for my own benefit: If you have free time and are getting takeout or eating hot pockets, you're just borrowing that time from the end of your lifespan to use between work and sleep. It's like borrowing from a 401k on a fixed income.

Speaking of, the same goes for finances. We feel like certain essentials are disproportionately expensive because we can otherwise afford previously unheard of luxuries on average incomes, but we are actually just much less wealthy than consumerism makes us feel.

So if we live wisely and with discipline, it is quickly obvious that time and money are in much shorter supply than most realize. That isn't necessarily grim, but this framing is much more useful in good habit forming in my experience.

The value culture in the West has so quickly changed in only a generation or two depending on the specific region, that I'm more suspicious over time of the perceived unobtainability of certain ways of living that we frequently romanticize.