ak86

I spend a fair amount of time consuming content from various sources - feeds, HN, twitter, reddit - dedicatedly and in between activities. While obviously a personal commentary, I was interested in why I end up spending so much time - despite understanding full well that I had a ton of other activities I could productively engage in, and what could I do to overcome it.

My theory is that random reinforcement is the culprit, at least in my case. I'll find a few gems once in a while, unpredictably, and I'll be scanning my sources looking for the next gem.

My proposed solution is to create personal cyclical patterns of consumption, so that users are only exposed to new content at regular cycles chosen by them - increasing the predictability of finding great content, and reducing the addiction. This is somewhat similar to the noprocrast option in HN, but I'm imagining a broader user controlled layer between the content creation and content consumption, and possible native integration within a site's features.

I wanted to get some quick thoughts from the community on this? Does this affect you? Do you think such a solution would be helpful? I would be happy to flesh this idea out in more detail and discuss more if there's interest in the community.

Thanks for your thoughts!