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FocusTube: A Chrome extension that hides YouTube Shorts

(github.com)
269 points youz | 11 comments | 23 Oct 25 21:11 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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peacebeard ◴[23 Oct 25 22:46 UTC] No.45688386[source]▶
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it.”

― Seneca, On the Shortness of Life: Life Is Long if You Know How to Use It

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1. kadoban ◴[23 Oct 25 22:57 UTC] No.45688489[source]▶
The heedless luxury and "no good activity" are some of the better parts of life.

Personally I live for the every day, I'm not worrying too much about what I will regret for a few hours on my last day(s) if I even make it there.

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2. mastazi ◴[23 Oct 25 23:13 UTC] No.45688660[source]▶
As a teen I attended a school with a curriculum focused on classical studies (Italian "Liceo Classico") and reading your comment I immediately thought "Oh, this commenter must be from the Epicurean School" LOL

Some quotes by Epicurus:

> Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

> The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.

And this absolute banger:

> Death, the most dreaded of evils, is therefore of no concern to us; for while we exist death is not present, and when death is present we no longer exist.

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3. PaulDavisThe1st ◴[23 Oct 25 23:20 UTC] No.45688706[source]▶
Then consider what you may regret for the last 10 years of your life, when your mobility, sight and hearing capabilities are all degraded either a lot or a little, and you look back and realize that you spent 3000 hours on youtube shorts.
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4. PaulDavisThe1st ◴[23 Oct 25 23:21 UTC] No.45688723[source]▶
Death is not a concern. Dying is. For most of us, dying is an extended (often multi-year) process, not some instantaneous transformation from existence to non-existence.
5. peacebeard ◴[23 Oct 25 23:22 UTC] No.45688730[source]▶
You are your own judge of what activities are worthwhile. Spending your time on those activities which you value is not a given.
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6. yoyohello13 ◴[23 Oct 25 23:48 UTC] No.45688975[source]▶
If All my senses have been significantly degraded for the past 10 years I would probably regret not living in a country that allows assisted suicide.
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7. PaulDavisThe1st ◴[23 Oct 25 23:53 UTC] No.45689021{3}[source]▶
Here's what I call significantly degraded: I can no longer read most books without reading glasses.

Assisted suicide for that? I don't think so...

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8. kadoban ◴[24 Oct 25 00:00 UTC] No.45689086[source]▶
> Then consider what you may regret for the last 10 years of your life, when your mobility, sight and hearing capabilities are all degraded either a lot or a little, and you look back and realize that you spent 3000 hours on youtube shorts.

I don't watch a lot of shorts, I don't find them that compelling. But I do watch a lot of shows and youtube videos, both of which many people would put in the same bucket. If I'm old and my sight and hearing suck, I'd hope I'll be happy that I watched the shows and movies I could while I had the chance.

To be clear, I don't even disagree with the original quote, I just think that there's many (hopefully mistaken, but I don't know the author) interpretations of it that come down to "no having fun, you'll regret it!"

9. yoyohello13 ◴[24 Oct 25 00:46 UTC] No.45689418{4}[source]▶
On the plus side, your eyes would probably still be good enough to watch YouTube shorts.
10. kadoban ◴[24 Oct 25 02:07 UTC] No.45689953[source]▶
Absolutely. I hope the author of the quote would agree. There are (many) days I waste even by my own judgement, which is something I try to get better at, so I certainly agree strongly with my own interpretation of the author's words.
11. kadoban ◴[24 Oct 25 02:11 UTC] No.45689974[source]▶
Yes, exactly, thank you! I have a terrible memory for names and specific quotes, but those ideas stuck with me quite well from my days of studying philosophy. The last one definitely heavily impacted my thoughts on death and dying back when death was a dreaded, distant destination.