Hacker News: ErigmolCt

New comment by ErigmolCt in "Surprise, pay $1000"

ErigmolCt — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 09:19:47 +0000

This is where the "billing is hard" explanation and the user trust issue overlap

New comment by ErigmolCt in "Surprise, pay $1000"

ErigmolCt — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 09:07:24 +0000

This is why I'm pretty sympathetic to hard caps by default

New comment by ErigmolCt in "Surprise, pay $1000"

ErigmolCt — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 09:03:34 +0000

I can understand not wanting to kill someone's CI in the middle of active development, but then the product needs a very explicit consent step before converting free minutes into deb

New comment by ErigmolCt in "I made my phone slow on purpose"

ErigmolCt — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:35:09 +0000

The greyscale trick is underrated

New comment by ErigmolCt in "I made my phone slow on purpose"

ErigmolCt — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:29:17 +0000

If 6 seconds is enough to make the urge disappear, it probably wasn't a real intention in the first place

New comment by ErigmolCt in "I made my phone slow on purpose"

ErigmolCt — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:27:11 +0000

This seems like the same basic insight from a different angle: don't rely on willpower, change the cost of the impulse

New comment by ErigmolCt in "I made my phone slow on purpose"

ErigmolCt — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:19:32 +0000

Making the experience slightly worse instead of blocking it completely feels more psychologically realistic

New comment by ErigmolCt in "The death of the brick and mortar toy store"

ErigmolCt — Fri, 22 May 2026 09:20:56 +0000

This matches my impression that kids’ birthdays have become less of a "party at someone's house" thing and more of a small event-industry category

New comment by ErigmolCt in "The death of the brick and mortar toy store"

ErigmolCt — Fri, 22 May 2026 09:12:24 +0000

That's probably the trap: competing with Walmart or Target on "I need a LEGO set for a birthday party in 20 minutes" is almost impossible.

New comment by ErigmolCt in "The death of the brick and mortar toy store"

ErigmolCt — Fri, 22 May 2026 08:09:33 +0000

I don't think every old retail format deserved to survive unchanged, but towns without places where children can physically explore feel a little poorer (in a way)

New comment by ErigmolCt in "EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids"

ErigmolCt — Tue, 12 May 2026 14:42:50 +0000

Shorts are basically the same product

New comment by ErigmolCt in "EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids"

ErigmolCt — Tue, 12 May 2026 14:37:39 +0000

I think the smoking comparison works best when applied to the engagement mechanics rather than "social media" as a whole

New comment by ErigmolCt in "EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids"

ErigmolCt — Tue, 12 May 2026 14:35:37 +0000

The problem is when the product becomes an optimization machine for attention

New comment by ErigmolCt in "EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids"

ErigmolCt — Tue, 12 May 2026 14:33:48 +0000

I'm usually skeptical of -protect the children- regulation, but addictive design feels like a real and concrete target

New comment by ErigmolCt in "Men who stare at walls"

ErigmolCt — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 20:09:18 +0000

The hard part is that the training looks like nothing from the outside, so it's easy to dismiss (in a way)

New comment by ErigmolCt in "Men who stare at walls"

ErigmolCt — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 20:00:33 +0000

A lot of "doing nothing" advice gets framed as clearing the mind, yet sometimes the valuable part is finally letting the mind choose its own direction

New comment by ErigmolCt in "Men who stare at walls"

ErigmolCt — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 19:52:29 +0000

Maybe the useful framing is: just don't optimize the break

New comment by ErigmolCt in "Men who stare at walls"

ErigmolCt — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 19:42:46 +0000

Yep, I think it's basically meditation with the branding stripped off

New comment by ErigmolCt in "Men who stare at walls"

ErigmolCt — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 19:38:11 +0000

I've found the same thing with short walks without headphones. The first few minutes feel almost irritating, like my brain is looking for something to latch onto. Then after a while the mental noise settles and work feels less aversive again...

New comment by ErigmolCt in "Bring Back Idiomatic Design"

ErigmolCt — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 19:50:57 +0000

Yep, there's some bad incentives and some rushed work, but calling it mostly incompetence or malice kind of ignores how much the underlying system has changed