avirse's recent activity
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Comment on Growing a human: the first thirty weeks in ~life.women
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Comment on Commonly misspelled words quiz in ~humanities.languages
avirse LinkThat was fun :) 19/20, I can spell fine in English, not so much in French!That was fun :)
19/20, I can spell fine in English, not so much in French!
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Comment on I hope you don't use generative AI - an essay about my experience offering an open-source tool in ~tech
avirse Link ParentThat still presupposes both that there must be an artist involved and that that artist must be human, which is not self-evident.That still presupposes both that there must be an artist involved and that that artist must be human, which is not self-evident.
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Comment on I hope you don't use generative AI - an essay about my experience offering an open-source tool in ~tech
avirse Link ParentThe patron has a hand, sure, but if that patron claimed to be an artist or to have created the art no one would take them seriously. Why is that different with a LLM when they have the exact same...The patron has a hand, sure, but if that patron claimed to be an artist or to have created the art no one would take them seriously. Why is that different with a LLM when they have the exact same level of involvement? Why does there need to be "an artist" involved at all?
An LLM doesn't have emotions, but it does have experiences. It has vast data banks of experiences that it uses to create its output.
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Comment on I hope you don't use generative AI - an essay about my experience offering an open-source tool in ~tech
avirse Link ParentThe issue I have with that take is that if you replaced the LLM with a human artist and gave them the same prompts and revisions, the person giving the prompts would be said to be commissioning an...The issue I have with that take is that if you replaced the LLM with a human artist and gave them the same prompts and revisions, the person giving the prompts would be said to be commissioning an artist, not creating art themselves. I don't see how their relationship to the end product is meaningfully changed by the fact that it's not a human they are commissioning.
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Comment on How's everyone doing? in ~talk
avirse LinkI'm not coping, nor is my support system, and the problems keep piling up. No one thing is catastrophic, but it's a real death by a thousand cuts.I'm not coping, nor is my support system, and the problems keep piling up. No one thing is catastrophic, but it's a real death by a thousand cuts.
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Comment on The average US college student is illiterate in ~life
avirse Link ParentPeople probably judge me for reading on my phone while walking the dog (like I'm doing now), but since for the almost 8 years we've had him I've walked him 2-3 times a day around the same...People probably judge me for reading on my phone while walking the dog (like I'm doing now), but since for the almost 8 years we've had him I've walked him 2-3 times a day around the same neighbourhood, even doing 5 different loops means I've done any given walk about a thousand times. Same with getting the bus to work, though I tend to read a paperback then if I get a seat.
I'm all for finding interest in the "mundane", but even that is thin on the ground after the thousandth iteration. Checking in every once in a while when things may have appreciably changed is plenty, I think.
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Comment on The secretive company filling video game sites with gambling and AI in ~games
avirse Link ParentA small number can slip in easily, but it doesn't scale (bots inviting bots can be taken out at the root of the invite tree), so that does limit the practical applications of bad-faith botting....A small number can slip in easily, but it doesn't scale (bots inviting bots can be taken out at the root of the invite tree), so that does limit the practical applications of bad-faith botting. It's also much better than the default of "no impediment at all".
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Comment on What’s your preferred work monitor setup? in ~comp
avirse LinkOne 13" laptop screen. Or maybe 14", I haven't measured the new laptop work just forced upon me. Everything opens where I expect to see it, only one wire and only while the laptop needs charging,...One 13" laptop screen. Or maybe 14", I haven't measured the new laptop work just forced upon me. Everything opens where I expect to see it, only one wire and only while the laptop needs charging, and it's harder to get distracted from the task at hand when the task at hand takes up the entire workspace.
I do fix the weird 150% zoom thing every time, though. I don't understand why the default is to make everything huge on the smaller screen that you will be sitting closer to.
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Comment on What are you working through? in ~life
avirse (edited )Link ParentThis was probably rhetorical, but I'm going to answer it anyway in case it helps. I'm sorry if this is just rehashing things you already know and/or aren't able to implement. Also I should caveat...- Exemplary
It's all just "you need to recharge" but then doesn't go into any specifics of how to recharge when you're just trying to survive. Like how am I supposed to reduce the amount of demands without actually doing the demands that I'm struggling with to begin with?
This was probably rhetorical, but I'm going to answer it anyway in case it helps. I'm sorry if this is just rehashing things you already know and/or aren't able to implement. Also I should caveat that I'm only diagnosed autistic, though I do have a(n undiagnosed) ADHD partner and relate a lot to AuDHD observations (and read/watch a lot of ADHD-specific stuff online - How to ADHD is great edit: and just put out a video on this very topic!).
This is also just what I've found to help, your mileage may vary.
At Home
Short term:
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Make "doom boxes". Everywhere that there's a pile of anything, stick it in a box/bag/cupboard so you can't see it anymore. Do this to clothes, dishes, trash, miscellaneous clutter, just shove it out of sight for now. A pile of 30 things = 30 different demands, even when you've gone blind to it. One box = one demand. This is normally considered a bad thing to do, but when you're in burnout it's worth the risk for the gains in functioning.
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Work on reducing any sensory strains. Experiment with noise-cancelling headphones, earplugs, ambient noise videos, dim bulbs, sunglasses indoors and out, wearing only the comfiest clothing options and hairstyles, scented candles, room sprays, using fidget/stim toys, etc. Bear in mind that this can mean adding sensory stimuli as well as removing it; you can be sensory-seeking in one sense and sensory-avoidant in another.
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Find quickly-fixed inefficiencies in how you navigate your home. Maybe you have an empty shoe rack and a pile of shoes in your entryway you always trip over - may as well get rid of the shoe rack and put the pile in its place. Maybe your laundry basket has a lid you have to open to put clothes in - ditch the lid so you can just throw stuff in. Maybe your bedroom door has a load of coat hooks overflowing with hoodies and towels so you bump the door every time you walk in - get that crap out of your way and into a doom box.
All of these things passively drain your energy as you go about your day, often without you noticing. Address them and after a few days you'll likely notice new energy, which you can eventually use for:
Medium term:
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As you need things from your doom boxes, take out the thing you need and one other easy-to-deal-with thing and deal with it. E.g. you shoved all your dirty dishes into the cupboard under the sink but now you need a bowl and a fork to eat noodles, so grab the bowl and fork and one plate, wash them all, put away the plate. Bonus points if you always go to the doom box first so clean stuff can accumulate. Triple bonus points if you realise you have far more of something than you need/can maintain and discard some of the excess.
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Recruit friends/family to help, if possible. Whether that's having them come over to help you clean or being available to call for body-doubling while you make a dent in problem areas. This does require having sympathetic friends/family who won't make you feel judged, otherwise it will backfire spectacularly.
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Find and fix the bigger inefficiencies. Find homes for the stuff you use next to the place you use it. Set up "stations" so every step of a task can be done in the same spot (e.g. instead of coffee pot on one side of the room and mugs on another, mugs hang above the coffee pot). Maybe swap hanging clothes for drawers or vice versa if you find one method significantly easier. Edit: Clutterbug just did a whole Youtube video on this, coincidentally.
At Work:
I only know about office-type work, and there's not a huge amount that you can do, but for what it's worth:
- Sensory stuff as above
- Turn off as many notifications as you can get away with - none at all for emails (replace with an alarm to remind you to check them if your workflow won't naturally prompt that), use "Busy" status for IMs, turn down the ringer for phones (or turn it off and make excessive use of voicemail if that's an option)
- Use email rules to delete automated emails you can't opt-out of
- Use more email rules to sort/tag/categorise as much as you can to save brainpower
- If you work from a hotdesking office, pick a desk that's far away from the busiest walkways
- If your workload allows, slow down by making more notes and documentation - keep as much as you can outside of your brain. It's not a bad practice generally, but when dealing with burnout the less cognitive load the better.
Relaxing:
What you find relaxing will be highly personal, but the key (in my experience) is to look for activities that when you finish doing them you feel like you've been asleep, instead of activities that make you feel energised or inspired or otherwise make you want to Do Things. The latter are great for depression and neurotypical burnout, but they're not the rest that's needed in neurodivergent burnout.
That could be something very sleep-like, like laying in a dark room watching a lava lamp, or it could be a more "normal" hobby like reading a book or listening to an audiobook or doing some kind of craft (e.g. knitting, crochet). ADHD brains tend to need some stimulation to relax (hence being treated medically with stimulants) so "distraction" isn't inherently a problem, it just needs to be the right level of distraction.
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Comment on What are you working through? in ~life
avirse LinkLack of community, but more specifically that attempts to establish connections keep backfiring on me. I stepped back from two online communities I was reasonably active in because they were...Lack of community, but more specifically that attempts to establish connections keep backfiring on me. I stepped back from two online communities I was reasonably active in because they were starting to feel alienating, I have been haunted by intrusive memories of social fauxes pas ever since my work social event, and I've been sick with anxiety over trying to maintain contact with members of a mums group that recently ended because I'm so busy with work and appointments and organising home repairs and helping baby adjust to the new routine that I'm too exhausted to commit to plans.
So instead I dump-and-run on tildes because I can't even fit in a therapist appointment these days. Not that the therapy has been helping at all. I wish I knew what would.
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Comment on Is the detachment in the room? - Agents, cruelty, and empathy in ~tech
avirse Link ParentI don't think a singleplayer videogame NPC is all that analogous even outside of the existence of "evil playthroughs". Playing a videogame has the human entering the NPC's world, social media has...I don't think a singleplayer videogame NPC is all that analogous even outside of the existence of "evil playthroughs". Playing a videogame has the human entering the NPC's world, social media has bots entering the human world. Choosing to interact with a game and getting angry about encountering NPCs is very different to choosing to interact with humans and getting angry at encountering bots.
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (February 2026) in ~health.mental
avirse Link ParentThe social model of disability breaks down very quickly when you consider us as animals, I feel. Wheelchairs themselves are a human-made construction, as are crutches, inhalers, sunglasses,...The social model of disability breaks down very quickly when you consider us as animals, I feel. Wheelchairs themselves are a human-made construction, as are crutches, inhalers, sunglasses, noise-cancelling headphones, insulin pumps, ostomy systems, etc.
That one human-made construction is widely incompatible with another human-made construction is usually ridiculous. But saying that human-made construction makes someone fully functional but it's human-made construction that prevents them from being fully functional makes no sense.
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (February 2026) in ~health.mental
avirse LinkI think I hit autistic burnout during the postnatal depression, but responsibilities and obligations and the energy cost of a toddler are really starting to ramp up now, so there's no time or...I think I hit autistic burnout during the postnatal depression, but responsibilities and obligations and the energy cost of a toddler are really starting to ramp up now, so there's no time or space to even think about trying to address it.
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Comment on Nova Launcher: An update in ~tech
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Comment on Nova Launcher: An update in ~tech
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Comment on Nova Launcher: An update in ~tech
avirse LinkI didn't think I had any great attachment to Nova, only installing it originally to get rid of a default Google search bar on my home screen, but now it seems that it's impossible to find another...I didn't think I had any great attachment to Nova, only installing it originally to get rid of a default Google search bar on my home screen, but now it seems that it's impossible to find another launcher that has an icon for the app drawer. I hate gesture navigation, I find it actively hostile, but every single launcher now seems to be either gesture-only or worse, search-only.
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
avirse Link ParentThe people who work in e.g. stores are spending the better part of the day there, though, so it would make sense to make it a reasonable temperature for their sake.The people who work in e.g. stores are spending the better part of the day there, though, so it would make sense to make it a reasonable temperature for their sake.
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Comment on What’s a point that you think many people missed? in ~talk
avirse Link ParentThere has been a lot of discourse on this around the new Devil Wears Prada sequel - same high-end fashion brands as the original movie, but even from the trailer you can see the decline in quality.There has been a lot of discourse on this around the new Devil Wears Prada sequel - same high-end fashion brands as the original movie, but even from the trailer you can see the decline in quality.
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Comment on Advice on avoiding the hedonic treadmill of endless content? in ~life
avirse Link ParentHow?? My almost-one-year-old just wants to destroy and eat books. So far three board books are completely done with another two damaged beyond being able to pass them on. Reading is a battle of...How?? My almost-one-year-old just wants to destroy and eat books. So far three board books are completely done with another two damaged beyond being able to pass them on. Reading is a battle of trying to keep her interested without her getting frustrated that she can't rip out the pages. About the only way we can manage it is if she's not even looking at the book, just climbing and playing nearby. Which doesn't feel any different to just monologuing at her, when all the talking advice is about engaging and leaving space for responses, so that doesn't seem like a good thing?
The fruit thing annoyed me greatly after a while. "Your baby is as big as an avocado" feels intuitive enough, avocados have a kind of snowman-esque shape that I can map to a fetus. Then the next week one says "your baby is as big as a pear", but hang on, every pear I've ever eaten was smaller than an avocado. And another says "your baby is as big as a pomegranate", which is roughly spherical. Does that mean baby's length matches a pomegranate's diameter? Stretched out or slightly curled? Or is it that they have the same volume if baby curled up extra-tight? Or the same weight? More thought than anyone making such a chart has given it, I'm sure.