I deleted my second brain

The Hacker News thread discusses a blog post in which the author deletes their extensive note-taking system—a “second brain”—as a radical response to personal anxiety and information overload. The post sparked wide reflection on the purpose, value, and emotional burden of long-term personal knowledge management.

Supporters of note preservation argue that second brains, when used as logs or journals, serve as valuable archives for revisiting past projects, thoughts, or emotions. Several participants describe systems that store how-tos, performance logs, and creative ideas across decades. They emphasize emotional and practical benefits, such as self-reflection, documentation for rare tasks, and even legacy material for children or future historians. Some differentiate functional, utilitarian notes (e.g., vehicle logs, project states) from idealized productivity tools that induce guilt when misused—framing the author’s anxiety not as a fault of the system, but of mismatched expectations.

Critics contend that such archives can become overwhelming, particularly when they morph into aspirational “insight-hoarding.” They argue that clutter—especially digital—is still psychologically burdensome, with diminishing returns over time. Several note that deleting to-do lists and outdated logs can feel liberating, especially when the system no longer serves a clear purpose. Others liken excessive data keeping to digital hoarding, cautioning that the low cost of storage shouldn't obscure the long-term emotional toll or complexity of curating what to keep.

Opposing these minimalist views, some argue that deletion is irreversible and unnecessary given the ease of digital archiving. They propose archiving as a middle ground—zipping up old notes out of sight but not destroying them. A few even suggest LLMs might eventually mine such troves for insights that their creators cannot foresee. This sparked disagreement: while some saw potential in AI-assisted curation, others challenged the premise that machines could evaluate personal value or emotional significance.

Notable examples include users who recovered decades-old notes or photos from forgotten drives and described the joy of rediscovery. One mentioned an email archive from 1992 as a “personal Pepys diary.” Another implemented a script that surfaces random notes daily for review—a practice praised for balancing cleanliness with retention.

Overall, the thread reveals divergent philosophies around memory, digital permanence, and identity. Some see data as an emotional time capsule; others view it as a source of inertia. While there’s little consensus, the discussion underscores how personal “second brains” can reflect deeper anxieties about growth, relevance, and forgetting.

#DigitalArchiving #NoteTaking #ProductivityAnxiety #InformationOverload