Shiny Object Syndrome(en.wikipedia.org)
44 pointsby janisz3 hours ago10 comments
  • d4v36 minutes ago
    "Shiny object syndrome is the situation ..."

    'The situation'? Can't help but feel this is very imprecise and unserious language.

  • codeulike2 hours ago
    This is just a rebranding of novelty bias to make it seem like a new idea
    • tough2 hours ago
      There's a meta-recursion there that's kinda funny innit
    • jerean hour ago
      Good one.
    • rwoerz2 hours ago
      Novelty bias is soooo 2025
  • Ozzie_osman2 hours ago
    I call it Toddler Soccer Syndrome. Ball's over there? Let's all chase it. Oh, moved over here now? Everyone run the other way.
    • rf15an hour ago
      I know it as dogs-with-ball syndrome, and rather used that analogy to teach my son what not to do when learning to play football.
  • venning2 hours ago
    The earliest reference on Wikipedia is 2011, but I was saying "Shiny Object Syndrome" and even specifically abbreviating it "SOS" by at least 2005.

    I know that I first heard it from somewhere else, but I do not remember where. I'm pretty sure it was a TV show.

    Does any one remember where it originated from?

  • xandriusan hour ago
    Why is such a small article being upvoted? It's basically just a definition page.
  • duke_sam2 hours ago
    An aspect of this I find interesting is that previously effort was a reasonably good barrier to making something new. If a feature/library existed someone cared enough to put the work in to make it exist.

    Now it’s just a question of tokens. The presentation/feature list is no sign of effort or caring. So we get limitless new shiny things to try and filter through

    • drawfloat2 hours ago
      Pretty sure bringing up tokens immediately is itself an example of this.
    • Sharlin2 hours ago
      It’s possibly a good thing in disguise. Maybe it will make software dev finally more inclined to focus on tested and true technologies rather than chasing trendy novelty stuff.

      (Oh, who am I kidding, it’s AI that do tech decisions now and they choose whatever stuff that’s overrepresented in their training data, or just NIH stuff, which has inexplicably become a virtue, like measuring progress by lines of code spent has become. )

  • gspr2 hours ago
    I wonder if this has any relevance at all to a bunch of new stuff that people on HN seem very obsessed over these days.
    • rf15an hour ago
      No no, this is a genuinely new and unrelated thing few people have seen so far.
  • mcphage2 hours ago
    In boardgame communities, it’s called “Cult of the New”.
  • jan_m_savage6 minutes ago
    [dead]
  • nilail2 hours ago
    [dead]