I've noticed that a lot of writers in tech generalize their experience to everyone in the community. Several times a day I'm struck by someone who talks about his/her experience like it's a common experience, when it may or may not be. I think it would be safer and more relatable if the author had said "HN - Bad for My Well Being," but of course that doesn't sound as portentous.
Absolutely. There's a lot of "I don't like X, so X is bad" out there. It's quite disturbing the number of people who can't imagine that other developers might approach the world in a different way and with different values.
I get the impression this is a trait that seems more present in programmer types than many other people, and this fascinates me. I notice this in myself too. I almost always try to reduce/abstract my own problems or issues to 'general principles', and I tend to want to get to the root of things.
There are many plausible explanations for this (and obviously I've tried to get to the root of this phenomenon too), but at some point I started reflecting on whether this behavior is a good or bad thing.
I think it's both good and bad. It's good primarily because a lot of people look at their own problem in isolation, and share/address them as 'their unique problem', which keeps them from seeing underlying patterns or principles and from tapping into the experiences and observations of the countless others that have had pretty much the exact same problem. But it can also be bad, because not everyone likes being subjected or presented with this kind of generalization, and attempting to think about a problem in a general sense while you are suffering from it yourself complicates the search for solutions immensely (especially practical, direct solutions to implement).
Does anyone know if there has been research into this? I never really thought of diving in the the 'psychology' of programmers...
I noticed it in action recently when watching a David Lynch documentary about Transcendental Meditation where he describes his experience of meditation as "the cables of and elevator being cut and falling into oneness." My first thought was that Lynch has a very unique mind and probably doesn't realize that is not a very typical experience during meditation, but bless his heart, he wants everyone to have it.
I completely agree with you. Way too often to I read articles stating various truths based on their sole experiences. This is just one more thing that devalues HN and warrants curation.
In this particular case, this is not only my experience but the experience of some of my colleagues and friends. That doesn't mean that this applies to everyone and obviously it is an opinion article.
You said HN is bad for my well-being. I'm suggesting that you don't know how HN is for my well-being and my experience as a reader would have been more satisfying if I read your article to satifsy my curiousity about why HN is bad for your well-being. If you had put it as your problem I might have a couple more suggestions, but you instead tell me how I should solve this problem you think I have.
