If pg is sitting off in the background trying to convince people to click buttons with zero thought being exercised, then yes, Hacker News should be voluntarily time-limited. Until then, it is an apples-and-oranges comparison. Video games and TV have always been pretty pointless, but at least you were exercising some skill. These games are no better than slot machines, which are regulated in many places for good reasons.
I doubt there more skill being exercised when watching TV or looking at cat pictures at Reddit. I don't play these games but I think they probably are more engaging than other activities.
Zynga games and slot machines are an easy target for because they are time sinks that aren't common in HN crowd. But imagine some outsider looking at your day under a lens and regulating how you spend your time.
What should be the metric by which you classify an activity as being "good"? Inducing happyness? I bet if you ask Zygna customers they'd all say Farmville is their favorite game. Productivity?
Should people be allowed to spend large amounts of money to buy cars they don't really need? Electronics?
I'm not saying the govt should regulate Zynga. I'm pointing out that they do regulate slot machines. That's because people know slot machines can be bad for people, and are generally a pointless waste of time and money that feel good in the short term. Clubs and pubs that operate those machines and know damn well that people misuse them resist these regulations to the last. The same attitude toward voluntarily stopping these things is being displayed here. And the TV thing was an accidental misstatement. I think the same thing is true to some degree or another of serialised TV and most MMO's. Serialised TV is all about making you want to see the next episode. MMO's are all about rewarding high play times rather than skill.
