But there is also great writing from independent people in my Facebook feed. I can't go back to reading the paper...

Parts of the cycle are also relevant for community forums such as HN.

Definitely. But the information I get from here makes my life productive. I am a civil engineer and sometimes I have no idea what half the words are that people say around here. But I get to learn something new everyday. It's just a guarantee.

But with social media, their business model is to make me click on or look at things. That's just where it ends for them. And the productivity value is just not there. Yes, you can find helpful information, but I have to sift through so much noise.

Yes HN has it's fair share of social media problem (I am definitely too keen to check for upvotes myself, for that sweet cheap validation) but avoids the worst of it by not seeming to try to get anything out of its users, instead being dedicated to actually facilitating civil intelligent discussion.

Agreed, at least it's civil here, and related to my occupation.

Also, the minimal design, and the lack of an algorithm targeting my personal preferences with the express intention of tricking me into reading more stories makes a huge difference.

I really enjoyed commuting by bike, to the point I would go to certain places solely for the bike ride, and leave within a few minutes. I was also addicted to smoking. HN is like my bike addiction, while FB and Twitter feel more like my smoking addiction.

That's a good analogy. Yes, HN is from an era before the social engineering began.