5 ms·

I feel like this applies to just about anything that compels us to pay attention to it (TV, video games, etc...), albeit in different ways depending on the medi

I feel like this applies to just about anything that compels us to pay attention to it (TV, video games, etc...), albeit in different ways depending on the media.

JJMcJ 6y ago
Go to laundromat. Bring book, this time I'm going to get some reading done. Oooh, moldy golf tournament (or soap opera) on TV. And there goes 90 minutes.
- ben_w 6y ago
  For the same reason, my ex always avoided food places with TVs in them whenever she could.
  - justinlloyd 6y ago
    I hate going to restaurants or bars with friends/colleagues/family where the bar or restaurant has a TV showing whatever it is showing. Everyone inevitably gravitates to watching the TV rather than having a conversation. I can have dinner in front of a TV at home.
- ocdtrekkie 6y ago
  Last week when I was in a hospital waiting room, I knocked out A Brief History of Time in one sitting. That thing's been on my bookshelf for at least ten years untouched. I'm not sure it significantly enhanced my life (though it helped my understanding of the fabric of the universe, I guess?), but it felt like an accomplishment.
  - Jtsummers 6y ago
    I spent a good chunk of the last few years in physical therapy. Before sessions in the waiting room, and during the period of the session where they're applying heat/cooling or electricity I got a lot of reading done. I had a rule, broken recently and I need to restore it, of no electronics in my sitting room. Made it a very productive reading area as well. No laptop, tablet, kindle [0], or phone. At most I listened to music in it. Part of the problem was I started reading some programming books and wanted to code up things along with the text (like working through math exercises while reading a math book). I need to start handwriting the code and type it up at the desk later. [0] It's a Kindle Fire in my case. Which offers some of the same distractions, despite being lower power, as a tablet or phone. I did use it in there when I was actually reading on it sometimes. But it's a risk.
    - justinlloyd 6y ago
      I think you raised a valid point about "offers some of the same distractions." I found I got less reading done (but more screen time) when I used an Android tablet (Kindle or Samsung) as my e-reader than I did when I use my dedicated SONY ebook reader.
    - toast0 6y ago
      > It's a Kindle Fire in my case. Which offers some of the same distractions, despite being lower power A Kindle Fire is an Android tablet with a bad launcher and no Google services pre-installed. If you're not reading books that need a tablet (color, animations?, illustrations you want to zoom on), you'd probably do better with an eInk Kindle. They have a web browser, but at least the ones I've had, the browser is so terrible, it actively makes you not want to use it.
      - Jtsummers 6y ago
        I agree, but I selected the Fire specifically for PDF reading, and its support for AnkiDroid and Rosetta Stone. And it was a lot cheaper than any other tablet I found. And yeah, the browser is pretty mediocre so it's not a huge distraction, but it is a distraction for me.
    - cgriswald 6y ago
      > Part of the problem was I started reading some programming books and wanted to code up things along with the text (like working through math exercises while reading a math book). I tagged along on my then-girlfriend's business trip to LA because I had never been to California. She had the car and work during the day so there wasn't much I could do until she got back in the evenings. I had brought along a book on perl and learned both perl syntax and regular expressions one afternoon. Having to check everything by hand until I got back home required that I really understood the syntax and helped me retain it in a way that I think would have been more difficult if I just had a computer telling me if it was right or wrong.
      - Jtsummers 6y ago
- Aerroon 6y ago
  Funnily enough, I got into the habit of reading books on my phone. It actually started to hurt my wrists, because I ended up reading every free moment I had. Walking somewhere? Reading at the same time. Cooking? Reading. Eating food? Reading. Walking through the supermarket? Reading. Sitting on a bus? Reading. Lying down in bed, because I'm feeling tired? Reading. If my phone had been waterproof I would've probably read in the shower/bath as well.
cgriswald 6y ago
Jibes with my experience. I have a projector in my bedroom for the rare times I want to watch TV in bed because it’s tucked away where I don’t see it. A TV staring me in the face makes it harder for me to sleep even if it is off.

I feel like this applies to just about anything that compels us to pay attention to it (TV, video games, etc...), albeit in different ways depending on the media.

JJMcJ 6y ago

Go to laundromat. Bring book, this time I'm going to get some reading done. Oooh, moldy golf tournament (or soap opera) on TV. And there goes 90 minutes.

ben_w 6y ago
For the same reason, my ex always avoided food places with TVs in them whenever she could.
- justinlloyd 6y ago
  I hate going to restaurants or bars with friends/colleagues/family where the bar or restaurant has a TV showing whatever it is showing. Everyone inevitably gravitates to watching the TV rather than having a conversation. I can have dinner in front of a TV at home.
ocdtrekkie 6y ago
Last week when I was in a hospital waiting room, I knocked out A Brief History of Time in one sitting. That thing's been on my bookshelf for at least ten years untouched. I'm not sure it significantly enhanced my life (though it helped my understanding of the fabric of the universe, I guess?), but it felt like an accomplishment.
- Jtsummers 6y ago
  I spent a good chunk of the last few years in physical therapy. Before sessions in the waiting room, and during the period of the session where they're applying heat/cooling or electricity I got a lot of reading done. I had a rule, broken recently and I need to restore it, of no electronics in my sitting room. Made it a very productive reading area as well. No laptop, tablet, kindle [0], or phone. At most I listened to music in it. Part of the problem was I started reading some programming books and wanted to code up things along with the text (like working through math exercises while reading a math book). I need to start handwriting the code and type it up at the desk later. [0] It's a Kindle Fire in my case. Which offers some of the same distractions, despite being lower power, as a tablet or phone. I did use it in there when I was actually reading on it sometimes. But it's a risk.
  - justinlloyd 6y ago
    I think you raised a valid point about "offers some of the same distractions." I found I got less reading done (but more screen time) when I used an Android tablet (Kindle or Samsung) as my e-reader than I did when I use my dedicated SONY ebook reader.
  - toast0 6y ago
    > It's a Kindle Fire in my case. Which offers some of the same distractions, despite being lower power A Kindle Fire is an Android tablet with a bad launcher and no Google services pre-installed. If you're not reading books that need a tablet (color, animations?, illustrations you want to zoom on), you'd probably do better with an eInk Kindle. They have a web browser, but at least the ones I've had, the browser is so terrible, it actively makes you not want to use it.
    - Jtsummers 6y ago
      I agree, but I selected the Fire specifically for PDF reading, and its support for AnkiDroid and Rosetta Stone. And it was a lot cheaper than any other tablet I found. And yeah, the browser is pretty mediocre so it's not a huge distraction, but it is a distraction for me.
  - cgriswald 6y ago
    > Part of the problem was I started reading some programming books and wanted to code up things along with the text (like working through math exercises while reading a math book). I tagged along on my then-girlfriend's business trip to LA because I had never been to California. She had the car and work during the day so there wasn't much I could do until she got back in the evenings. I had brought along a book on perl and learned both perl syntax and regular expressions one afternoon. Having to check everything by hand until I got back home required that I really understood the syntax and helped me retain it in a way that I think would have been more difficult if I just had a computer telling me if it was right or wrong.
    - Jtsummers 6y ago
Aerroon 6y ago
Funnily enough, I got into the habit of reading books on my phone. It actually started to hurt my wrists, because I ended up reading every free moment I had. Walking somewhere? Reading at the same time. Cooking? Reading. Eating food? Reading. Walking through the supermarket? Reading. Sitting on a bus? Reading. Lying down in bed, because I'm feeling tired? Reading. If my phone had been waterproof I would've probably read in the shower/bath as well.

cgriswald 6y ago

Jibes with my experience. I have a projector in my bedroom for the rare times I want to watch TV in bed because it’s tucked away where I don’t see it. A TV staring me in the face makes it harder for me to sleep even if it is off.