The interest you feel when in a given option is relative to the interest you have in your other options. When browsing HN at work, lots of articles seem intere

The interest you feel when in a given option is relative to the interest you have in your other options. When browsing HN at work, lots of articles seem interesting—-because the immediate alternatives (like going back to work) aren’t that great. Since the articles are relatively interesting, you think “I’ll save these for later, when I have more time!”, not realizing that when you have more time, you also have more immediate alternatives, which quickly render the articles relatively uninteresting.