>Revenge procrastination, and why it's bad, is "staying up late doing things you know isn't good for you, out of spite and a desperate need for a sense that you are in control of your time"

OK, I just wanted to quote this so that people would read it again, because this is what they need to understand about revenge bedtime procrastination.

* "I am finally home from work, I'll play Civ for 3 hours till 3AM because I can finally do it" -- NOT it

* "I am finally home from work, I'll stay on HN and tire myself out arguing with people, not enjoying it a single bit, while being aware of the harm I am doing to myself and not enjoying it a single bit, just so that I have a feeling that this time is mine" -- yup.

To paraphrase: you only know something when you can freely destroy it. You can take a sledgehammer to your car if you paid it off. You can smash your phone.

You wouldn't do this normally, because you know which things are yours.

But things get interesting when it comes to yourself.

When it starts feeling like you don't have any time for yourself, people start killing time just to feel that it's theirs.

If it gets too bad, we'll get into active self-harm territory. In a way, that, too, is making sure you're in control of at least your body.

What you want to do and what you know isn't good for you can be the same thing. Consider cigarettes or alcohol as obvious examples.

The problem here is what "want" means. When we want an heroin dose because we are craving it, but we also want to stop because it's fucking with us, what do you want?

Is "want" related to your long term goals, or short term desires?