Is it unhealthy that I always refresh my novel page?

APieceOfRock

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Seriously, I think I have a problem. For thirty minutes after I post a chapter, I would always refresh the page to see if anyone commented anything...
Of course, I don't only do that, but the amount of time I spent doing it instead of writing is concerning me. Does anyone else do this?
 

APieceOfRock

Yuri Lover, endeed!
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It will send you a notification if they do so refresh like once every hour or something. I used to do it a lot but just chill out and wait for a bit.
I can't describe with words the rush of excitement I feel when I see that bell have a red "1" on the top right corner of it. The contrast of white and red feels so nice. It's definitely much more eyecatching than forum's notification.

The anticipation of waiting for the notification to load is soul-crushing. What is it going to be? A comment? A review? If it's a review, would they rate my novel highly?

But if it's someone replying to a comment I made a long time ago on another novel, I'll be very grumpy and sad.
 
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Paul_Tromba

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I can't describe with words the rush of excitement I feel when I see that bell have a red "1" under it. The contrast of white and red feels so nice. It's definitely much more eyecatching than forum's notification.

The anticipation of waiting for the notification to load is soul-crushing. What is it going to be? A comment? A review? If it's a review, would they rate my novel highly?

But if it's someone replying to a comment I made a long time ago on another novel, I'll be very grumpy and sad.
Trust me, we have all been there. It's not a bad thing and some of us wish we could hold onto that feeling forever.
 

KrakenRiderEmma

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Dopamine! It's good to try and cut the habit once in a while so you know how to let it go when you need to. Everyone has to deal with it these days due to social media likes, waiting for people to text back... the whole attention economy runs on dopamine.
 

BlackKnightX

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It's normal. If you really write for readers and not just yourself, you would naturally want feedbacks. You'd wanna know if you've made any mistakes so you can fix it. Hearing praises or knowing someone is really into your story can feed into your little ego as well. It's add to that sense of accomplishment.
 

Rhaps

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My reader and author accounts are on different apps, I don't have this problem. But when I'm on my laptop... I do refresh my page fairly often, more than my liking.
 

ManwX

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I check it hourly. sometimes i am just too tired and check back some other time. It's fairly normal IMO.
 

Simo

A lazy sloth
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I usually post a chapter right before I go to sleep. So by the time I wake up, I can check the accumulated comments all at once. I find that better than constantly refreshing the page.
 

ACertainPassingUser

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It's a bad obsession issue, the cause is the design of the notification system, and your expectations of exciting feedback.

The system is always part to blame, because it's the one that allow the thing to happen in first place.
 

LunaSoltaer

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I do that... but for responses to comments I make.

I also obsessively check for fluctuations in my dopamine numbers, but never comments because I never get comments.
 

ConansWitchBaby

Da Scalie Whisperer
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Dashboard refresh is better. I also don't want anything to happen. Silent readers are the best. Otherwise social interactions happen.
 

KrakenRiderEmma

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I'm feeling the dopamine withdrawal hard right now since all my series were hidden from search results for somewhat mysterious reasons!
It's dropped the dopamine-driving numbers and stats and views and new readers into the toilet.
Good reminder that
a) search results and rankings and front-page listing is a big source of traffic
b) ...but there are still all the existing readers looking forward to the next chapter even if they don't always give a fav or comment, the quiet majority
c) dopamine addiction is real and you can survive withdrawal by doing other things
 
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