4 ms·

There was an old late-90s adventure game called "The Longest Journey", set in a near-future, and at one point the main character laments how seemingly everythin

by tomc1985 6y ago

There was an old late-90s adventure game called "The Longest Journey", set in a near-future, and at one point the main character laments how seemingly everything has a screen attached to it now. She was a bit over 20 years early with her prediction. But by god it is true and I fucking hate it. Screens are everywhere they don't belong now.... gas station pumps, on the subway, in our cars, even on our fitness equipment. Is this really "innovation", or is this just a bunch wantrepreneurs looking to cash out on a sweet exit in a few years time? Like are people really so weak as to not be able to be alone with their thoughts for an hour while they ride a fitness bike? A pumped-up playlist on Spotify (gag) isn't enough? At this rate society is going to be those fatasses on Wall-E, fitness bikes be damned "But with a screen attached" is becoming the new "but do it on a computer!"

disabled 6y ago
This is a very thoughtful comment and you are correct about the screens and the wantrepreneurs. But, for some people, using an indoor bike is the only way that they can safely cycle. This includes people like me, who have multiple health conditions that make traditional cycling unsafe. Also, there are some people who want to cycle while simultaneously working from home, which is totally possible. That is why a lot of people have such setups. A lot of people who are endurance athletes are from the socioeconomic bracket that allows them to work from home.
- tomc1985 6y ago
  What kind of WFH are you able to do from a fitness-bike-mounted screen? At the very least you are missing important peripherals? I find it really hard to operate a touchscreen with any dexterity whilst running on an elliptical. Sure the bike itself had really big buttons on the UI, but when I brought in my ipad to play some XCOM, one encounter (usually 10-15 minutes) would take nearly the entire hour I would ride due to butterfingering everything. I can't imagine trying to do anything productive on such a setup.
  - maroonblazer 6y ago
    A colleague of mine has an Xbox stationed in front of his stationary bike. A large majority of his gaming time is spent while exercising.
  - disabled 6y ago
    I work part-time and I am also an electrical engineering graduate student. I often watch lectures while exercising, for example, and simultaneously take notes. I use two methods for coding/typing/notes: voice and specialized keyboard. I generally use a specialized braille keyboard, that I can sweat on, however I do wear gloves (see: https://www.atguys.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34_54&products_id=317 https://www.atguys.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_inf...). I know multiple braille codes backwards and forwards, and I generally use a standard 8-key braille keyboard to type English language, computer code, and math. I have a print-related disability, that does not affect visual acuity, but does affect my ability to read (severe convergence insufficiency). So, when working and exercising, I use text to speech feedback when typing with braille code. For coding with voice I use Dragon Naturally Speaking and VoiceCode (https://www.voicecode.io/ https://www.voicecode.io/). For math and voice I use Mathfly (https://mathfly.org/ https://mathfly.org/).
m463 6y ago
And for the rest of the stuff, it requires a sketchy app on your phone to use it.

disabled 6y ago

This is a very thoughtful comment and you are correct about the screens and the wantrepreneurs. But, for some people, using an indoor bike is the only way that they can safely cycle. This includes people like me, who have multiple health conditions that make traditional cycling unsafe. Also, there are some people who want to cycle while simultaneously working from home, which is totally possible. That is why a lot of people have such setups. A lot of people who are endurance athletes are from the socioeconomic bracket that allows them to work from home.

tomc1985 6y ago
What kind of WFH are you able to do from a fitness-bike-mounted screen? At the very least you are missing important peripherals? I find it really hard to operate a touchscreen with any dexterity whilst running on an elliptical. Sure the bike itself had really big buttons on the UI, but when I brought in my ipad to play some XCOM, one encounter (usually 10-15 minutes) would take nearly the entire hour I would ride due to butterfingering everything. I can't imagine trying to do anything productive on such a setup.
- maroonblazer 6y ago
  A colleague of mine has an Xbox stationed in front of his stationary bike. A large majority of his gaming time is spent while exercising.
- disabled 6y ago
  I work part-time and I am also an electrical engineering graduate student. I often watch lectures while exercising, for example, and simultaneously take notes. I use two methods for coding/typing/notes: voice and specialized keyboard. I generally use a specialized braille keyboard, that I can sweat on, however I do wear gloves (see: https://www.atguys.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34_54&products_id=317 https://www.atguys.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_inf...). I know multiple braille codes backwards and forwards, and I generally use a standard 8-key braille keyboard to type English language, computer code, and math. I have a print-related disability, that does not affect visual acuity, but does affect my ability to read (severe convergence insufficiency). So, when working and exercising, I use text to speech feedback when typing with braille code. For coding with voice I use Dragon Naturally Speaking and VoiceCode (https://www.voicecode.io/ https://www.voicecode.io/). For math and voice I use Mathfly (https://mathfly.org/ https://mathfly.org/).

m463 6y ago

And for the rest of the stuff, it requires a sketchy app on your phone to use it.