I am not sure these are rabbit holes. One can certainly get lost in the depth of a new discipline, but you can take a look around new ideas start sprouting.

I am an interaction designer, for example, but working with email got me thinking into ways of using it to support the interface. Instead of sending a reminder email for inactive users ("we miss you!"), you can send them a little interaction ("is this challenge good? yes or not). I doubt that insight would have come if I hadn't worked with email on the technical side.