Is reading Hacker News doomscrolling?

December 9, 2023

A few comments suggested reading HN is a form of a doomscrolling, but I don't experience that sensation. The fundamental problem with doomscrolling as I perceive it is when you run out of interesting things to read or you keep refreshing the page over and over endlessly scrolling and not really finding anything of interest. You feel helpless because it feels hard to escape from "searching mode".

HN is pure text and is curated to some degree. The links are much more technical in nature as opposed to the more easily digested cat pictures or pictures of your friends on vacation.

The issue is not really the fault of any particular platform, but both feeling unsure of what to do and feeling trapped in that sensation. To escape you need to choose an activity that can give you a physical sense of accomplishment. The suggested feed generated to keep your eyeballs engaged and viewing their ads offers no real relief.