4 ms·

Yes and no. I read a lot, but in "bursts." My iPad is full of books; many that I have read, many that I have yet to read. But I use most of my free time writin

Yes and no. I read a lot, but in "bursts." My iPad is full of books; many that I have read, many that I have yet to read. But I use most of my free time writing software. I also tend to do that in "bursts." Haven't looked at Facebook in many months. Never did Twitter/X. In fact, the only place I spend much time online, is ... here. Most of my karma is from comments, not submissions. So I guess I don't get out much.

johnisgood 11mo ago
Pretty much this. I literally don't out much [out of my house]. I would not, even if I had no MS and had no mobility issues. I am being here, cozy, writing software. When I am not writing software, I just watch a movie, and then I write software again, and the cycle repeats. It is bad for your health though, especially mine. We should at the very least do some exercises at home.
- ChrisMarshallNY 11mo ago
  Sorry to hear about the MS. Bad stuff, but at least writing software is something that you can do. Each morning, I get up at 5, and walk 5K. That helps (but lots of people I know, do a lot more).
- technothrasher 11mo ago
  > I just watch a movie [...] We should at the very least do some exercises at home. I bought a treadmill and do not allow myself to watch TV shows or movies I really enjoy without being on said treadmill. It makes me look forward to the exercise, and it allows me to "double up" the time spent by doing two things at once.
syntaxing 11mo ago
Having a dedicated ereader helps a lot. I have Kobo Libra 2, the UI/UX/physical design just make reading so much more appealing
plastic-enjoyer 11mo ago
> But I use most of my free time writing software. I also tend to do that in "bursts." I feel like this is, at least for me, a time problem. If I write software, then I have to neglect reading books; if I read books, I have to neglect writing software. Doing both seems not possible for me, so I have to do this in bursts.
close04 11mo ago
Same here. I used to be on classic social media (e.g. FB) but never went overboard with it. I reeled even that in to almost nothing more than 10 years ago. But other things filled that void before reading did. Other hobbies, family, kids, work, you name it. So my reading is in bursts too now, on a plane, on a train, on a bus, on a ferry... in the hospital... You get the gist, in places where I'll be stuck for some time and need more than the usual "HN bite" for a few minutes every hour. And I adjust my reading speed and choice of book so I can actually finish withing the allotted time or else risk forgetting everything by the time I next have a slot. I read Daniel Suarez' Delta-v in ~5-6h because that's how long I had on the 2-way ferry ride. My challenge with books vs. social media is that social media is like fast food but a book is like a gourmet meal. I can't read a book a few minutes at a time while on the toilet, or in public transport. Last time I did that I ended up in the middle of nowhere, 15min after we left the city, where the train stopped for a planned workers strike. But I can post a comment on HN just fine in 3 minutes and be done with it. So if the choice is 3h locked in somewhere with nothing but my mobile I'll choose to read. If I am at home with 1000 options, almost anything else will necessarily win.

johnisgood 11mo ago

Pretty much this. I literally don't out much [out of my house]. I would not, even if I had no MS and had no mobility issues. I am being here, cozy, writing software. When I am not writing software, I just watch a movie, and then I write software again, and the cycle repeats. It is bad for your health though, especially mine. We should at the very least do some exercises at home.

ChrisMarshallNY 11mo ago
Sorry to hear about the MS. Bad stuff, but at least writing software is something that you can do. Each morning, I get up at 5, and walk 5K. That helps (but lots of people I know, do a lot more).
technothrasher 11mo ago
> I just watch a movie [...] We should at the very least do some exercises at home. I bought a treadmill and do not allow myself to watch TV shows or movies I really enjoy without being on said treadmill. It makes me look forward to the exercise, and it allows me to "double up" the time spent by doing two things at once.

syntaxing 11mo ago

Having a dedicated ereader helps a lot. I have Kobo Libra 2, the UI/UX/physical design just make reading so much more appealing

plastic-enjoyer 11mo ago

> But I use most of my free time writing software. I also tend to do that in "bursts." I feel like this is, at least for me, a time problem. If I write software, then I have to neglect reading books; if I read books, I have to neglect writing software. Doing both seems not possible for me, so I have to do this in bursts.

close04 11mo ago

Same here. I used to be on classic social media (e.g. FB) but never went overboard with it. I reeled even that in to almost nothing more than 10 years ago. But other things filled that void before reading did. Other hobbies, family, kids, work, you name it. So my reading is in bursts too now, on a plane, on a train, on a bus, on a ferry... in the hospital... You get the gist, in places where I'll be stuck for some time and need more than the usual "HN bite" for a few minutes every hour. And I adjust my reading speed and choice of book so I can actually finish withing the allotted time or else risk forgetting everything by the time I next have a slot. I read Daniel Suarez' Delta-v in ~5-6h because that's how long I had on the 2-way ferry ride. My challenge with books vs. social media is that social media is like fast food but a book is like a gourmet meal. I can't read a book a few minutes at a time while on the toilet, or in public transport. Last time I did that I ended up in the middle of nowhere, 15min after we left the city, where the train stopped for a planned workers strike. But I can post a comment on HN just fine in 3 minutes and be done with it. So if the choice is 3h locked in somewhere with nothing but my mobile I'll choose to read. If I am at home with 1000 options, almost anything else will necessarily win.