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2015 sats \ 9 replies \ @elvismercury 19 Jan \ on: What’s your SN routine like? meta

My answer has little to do with sat allocation, although I've written about the current experiment with that if you want to read it.

My thing w/ SN is basically how to not spend too much time on SN. I wake up, do a bit of writing or art, then open SN and read all the notifications (some are replies to me, some are people I follow). Then I read recents, looking for things that are to my taste or that I'm trying to encourage; then to the main page.

After that, I try to not look at SN anymore because the major challenge at this era of my life is having my attention fragmented into a million pieces. This is the usual problem of modern life that people talk about (always checking their phone, etc) but with a bonus that with my job, and my hobbies, I am extremely subject to this fractionation, and it's become a serious issue.

This is relevant to SN bc there's so much compelling stuff here, and I see so many ways to be involved and help, and I actually feel like I'm kind of actual friends with a few people, and so it's tempting for so many reasons, but my life can't support it. I need those mental resources elsewhere, at least for now.

I then use 500 sats as play money. I zap more generously than in the past and don’t bat an eyelid when some territories require 100 sats to post. Because I have enough!

This is something I just can't wrap my head around. I believe you either live in Japan or Singapore now, right? Super expensive places. And yet you're talking about, at current valuations, having a feeling of 'security' from 21 cents a day? I just don't get where people's minds are calibrated on zap amounts. I know not everyone is rolling in the dough, esp compared to a North American white-collar worker, but is 21 cents really an amount of daily capital that elicits feelings? Esp when, as @siggy47 points out, and as @Undisciplined has described many times, and as @ekzyis's daily works of art have demonstrated, it's way easier to be in the green when you're zapping more?

I'd love to know more about your thinking / feeling on this issue, since I think a lot of stackers are in your same mental space. In the meantime, here's some extra play money -- my request is that you use it for your activities on the site vs withdrawing it, and see what you notice.

And fwiw, I second Siggy in noticing and appreciating what you bring to SN.

575 sats \ 3 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 20 Jan

Hi, elvis!

Shucks, you got me. I freely admit that my first impulse when I saw your zap was to withdraw it to my LN wallet. Then I read that you wanted me to play with it and take note of any insights that crop up. Sure I will do that n play in the big leagues haha.

Now for why I only zap 50-60 sats (though that has increased thanks to @Undisciplined’s cajoling - I used to zap at most 20 sats haha)

The 21 cents per day is more symbolic than significant. I think that’s my coping mechanism to deal with the stresses of working life. I do love being a teacher and am pretty sure I’m not in the midst of any middle age crisis - but darn, teaching is hard. In the sense that every day I have to face so many (sometimes competing) demands from my colleagues and students - chasing for forms, attending meetings that have nothing to do with teaching, helping students get their uniforms, disciplining errant students. By the time I get down to it, I hardly have the time and energy to create great lessons - the thing that fills up my tank and makes me feel productive. Unfortunately, teaching is a microcosm of life; shit just happens. I cannot control all these variables that are part and parcel of my job. So every morning I zap myself in an attempt to exercise some control over my day.
On the practical side, I aim to buy a Bitrefill gift card at least once a month. I usually buy a supermarket voucher. So in Singapore, my trusty supermarket is part of a digital bank. So if I use the gift card and pay for the excess using my debit card, I will qualify for the higher interest rate. Provided that I make five transactions with my debit card, that is. The interest rate is nothing to rave about tbh, but I like the idea of working steadily towards a goal and seeing my sat stash increase haha. Exercising control over my life (back to point 1)
The selfish side of me doesn’t want to zap too much because I notice that some Stackers hardly zap others. But it isn’t my prerogative to tell people what to do with their zaps. Neither do I want to turn out to be a calculative Stacker who maintains a mental score sheet about how much I’m giving and receiving. If I relate to a post/comment, I will just zap it 50 sats - plain and simple.

So, I increased my default zap to 168 because in Chinese, it means “prosper all the way” (一路发”). It hasn’t even been one day but I have noticed certain changes:

Zapping is more meaningful to me because 168 is a symbolic number to me. It makes me feel that I’m spreading good luck around, especially since Chinese New Year is around the corner. Haha. Also I’m loving the darkish green zap - it makes me wonder just how many colours there are available!
Since my default is 168, I have to think more carefully about zapping a comment. Maybe my commenting behaviour has got to change. Maybe some Stackers have high default zaps, so they zap others but not me. I should just focus on developing my thoughts substantially so that people can’t help but zap my wonderful comments haha

Will get in touch again!

And thanks for the play money

163 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 20 Jan

I like that there's a new distinctive zap number out there and it's higher brow than the 420's or 69's that are often chosen.

Just wait until you see what your zap rewards start looking like. @ekzyis's daily posts give you a sense, but if you're like me, the first time you get rewarded several thousand sats for zapping content will be pretty impactful.

410 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei OP 22 Jan

Only two days and i have cut back to 108 zaps on the third day to make my newfound habit more sustainable haha

108 is a significant number in Chinese culture too. It refers to 108 Heroes, the main characters of the Ming dynasty classic Chinese novel “the Water Margin”.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 22 Jan

Neat

133 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined 19 Jan

I'd love to know more about your thinking / feeling on this issue, since I think a lot of stackers are in your same mental space.

Feel free to add those thoughts to my second most popular post which was about that very thing.

280 sats \ 2 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 20 Jan

I can see why you zap small comments 27 sats, because I just zapped you 28 sats (8 is the Chinese’s lucky number). Gotta spread the sats around!

Anyway I answered your 2nd most popular post and gave what I thought was a considered response to your interesting n existential question haha

108 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 20 Jan

I was doing 28 today as well. We'll see where I get to for tomorrow.

28 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 22 Jan

Nothing. I just wanna zap you more than you zap me for once hahaha

472 sats \ 0 replies \ @elvismercury 19 Jan

Dang, that would have been the perfect post to link but I hadn't seen it till now.

It also contains this gem of a comment which I loved. I'd zap that guy but he hasn't been back for 5 months. Come back, @nightsofbitcoin!