However, reported LW-er akrasia levels do not decrease with respondent age, which pulls against the thesis that LWers start out akratic but generically improve as we get older. They also do not decrease with “months since discovering LW/OB”, which pulls against the thesis that LW helps.
This is a little surprising to me, since Conscientiousness is supposed to improve somewhat with age. Obvious explanation: a selection effect inasmuch as older people with greater skills and Conscientiousness will be busy with non-LW things.
I have no idea whether this applies to the poll respondents, but adult lives tend to be a lot more exhausting than adolescent lives, especially if you have children. And being tired definitely correlates with akrasia.
Data point: I believe the amount of time I spend on LW/Internet conversations has gone down after I’ve started beating some akrasia issues. Also, the causality seems to go in both ways. (Less time online leads to getting more done, while getting more done means less time-wasting online.)
Amusingly, Google Plus has helped eliminate the time lost to Facebook usage, though in an odd way. After I started using G+, I would cross-post all of my links and status updates to both services. Now, to limit my Internet usage, I have intentionally avoided getting a broadband connection to my home: my primary Internet access is the GPRS in my phone. GPRS is too slow to use G+ with: the page simply won’t load well enough to allow for the posting of updates. I can still update Facebook with it, but since it would feel wrong towards my G+ followers to make an FB post without cross-posting it to G+, I don’t do that either. As a result, I don’t post anything on FB/G+, and don’t get stuck in checking my FB/G+ updates for likes and comments every couple of hours. This helps considerably in getting things done. I now update them only once a week or so, when I’m at the university.
This is a little surprising to me, since Conscientiousness is supposed to improve somewhat with age. Obvious explanation: a selection effect inasmuch as older people with greater skills and Conscientiousness will be busy with non-LW things.
I have no idea whether this applies to the poll respondents, but adult lives tend to be a lot more exhausting than adolescent lives, especially if you have children. And being tired definitely correlates with akrasia.
Data point: I believe the amount of time I spend on LW/Internet conversations has gone down after I’ve started beating some akrasia issues. Also, the causality seems to go in both ways. (Less time online leads to getting more done, while getting more done means less time-wasting online.)
Amusingly, Google Plus has helped eliminate the time lost to Facebook usage, though in an odd way. After I started using G+, I would cross-post all of my links and status updates to both services. Now, to limit my Internet usage, I have intentionally avoided getting a broadband connection to my home: my primary Internet access is the GPRS in my phone. GPRS is too slow to use G+ with: the page simply won’t load well enough to allow for the posting of updates. I can still update Facebook with it, but since it would feel wrong towards my G+ followers to make an FB post without cross-posting it to G+, I don’t do that either. As a result, I don’t post anything on FB/G+, and don’t get stuck in checking my FB/G+ updates for likes and comments every couple of hours. This helps considerably in getting things done. I now update them only once a week or so, when I’m at the university.