Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Disconnect. Offline only

chris.bolin.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 207 posts

Re: Disconnect. Offline only

#151

Post by chrisbolin »

y'all have been very kind. the productivity tips are very helpful. here's my system:

- sit down at my desk with laptop and phone

- disable wifi on my laptop

- turn my phone face-down on the desk, muted, with wifi/data still on

This lets me check if I have any new messages via my phone, but it is a polling system vs an interrupt system. I have to opt in to check. And I am very aware that using my phone looks and feels less productive, so I try to avoid using it too long.

I've been able to be pretty productive (as an software engineer) with this system. I find that I have to reconnect on my laptop about every 30 minutes to do something or another. Of course, every day varies.

Re: Disconnect. Offline only

#152

Post by WalterSear »

whatsreal wrote: post #101
norswap wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been a while so I don't remember specifics. However, after looking around, it seem the category "Patterns of Success for the Working World" ( http://calnewport.com/blog/archive/ ) captures what I thought the interesting content was. It's still 100+ blog posts, so you'll have to do a bit of sorting.

Here's a few from my own quick searching that I found most interesting/foundational/helpful: http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/07/08/grit-grinds-and-living... http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/21/knowledge-workers-are-... http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/06/22/on-the-value-of-hard-f... http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/02/16/the-danger-of-deep-pro... http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/02/15/fixed-schedule-product... http://…

...aaaaand that's why it may be a good idea to disconnect in order to get any work done.

Re: Disconnect. Offline only

#153

Post by nicklaf »

chrisbolin wrote: post #151

y'all have been very kind. the productivity tips are very helpful. here's my system: - sit down at my desk with laptop and phone - disable wifi on my laptop - turn my phone face-down on the desk, muted, with wifi/data still on This lets me check if I have any new messages via my phone, but it is a polling system vs an interrupt system. I have to opt in to check. And I am very aware that using my phone looks and feels…

This is a very interesting idea. I do like the strategy of separating connectivity along the boundary of phone and workstation, and with the phone face down / muted to create space for yourself.

As for having to connect your workstation now and then, I can't help but think we all ought to be running parallel, sandboxed VMs, and then importing resources like internet connectivity from the connected VM, but with limited scope. (Who would have thought that something like Plan 9 could have also implemented these kind of productivity hacks, along with all of its other superior approaches to things....)

Re: Disconnect. Offline only

#154

Post by etplayer »

nicklaf wrote: post #147

The funny thing is, smartphones are all but useless for many tasks the minute you go into airplane mode. There are exceptions, but you're basically holding a client to a distributed operating system which has appropriated many of the promises of wearable personal computing for corporate profit. So yes, if you've already ceded your right to not be inturupted by running apps like Twitter and Facebook in the background,…

Although I would prefer to be very strongly critical of the corporate model of the distributed operating system, (and particularly I'd like to relate it to Marx's concept of alienation, commodity fetishism and the tighter control of the 'free market of ideas' which turns out to be a 'free market' dominated by monopoly of Google in particular as they freqently turn out to be), I'm not sure what else I would do with a computer.

Say I want to program on a laptop - I can't program without access to the relevant documentation, access to download the libraries I need, and I'm often completely lost trying to debug a problem without access to SO or finding what triggers a particular error. Is this beacuse I have become over-dependent on the Internet for help, or even because I never learned how to program sans Internet? Probably, and it's a shame.

I honestly have no idea what I'd do with a phone without an Internet connection, other than the obvious phone calls and text messages. Take notes? Add stuff to the calendar? I could do that with pen and paper anyway, and not have to give that up during takeoff.

Social networking is weird, I feel like I'm supposed to be chasing something, looking for it, and when I find it then I'll latch onto it. It's like me with computer games. But I have found myself becoming bored with Mastodon and Facebook doesn't keep me for more than five minutes. Other peoples' lives, or at least to the extent displayed on FB, just isn't that interesting to me.

Twitter is a different matter, I always want to track the discussions, create witty replies, etc. (partly due to my political stance), but I don't think I'm obsessive yet. And where does it leave me? Less time to pursue my hobbies that take time to tease out their enjoyment; language learning, getting round to learning music theory, hobby programming, reading Marx, etc.

I suppose that seeing that this is happening is a good start.

Re: Disconnect. Offline only

#155

Post by squeaky-clean »

thinbeige wrote: post #132
beat wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would require it to be controlled, really. People recommend certain books because they're good. Word of mouth advertising. You can't just take word of mouth and automate it and productize it somehow. That kills its nature.

This is what I subtly questioned: How do you want to know if it's real word of mouth or growth hacking?

I've bought lots of books through HN recommendations, more often than not they're great. I do always check a bit of the poster's submission/comment history though, because people definitely do try to pitch their eBook or SaaS here.

Re: Disconnect. Offline only

#156

Post by ohthehugemanate »

It really does require a lot of discipline to stay focused nowadays. In my personal life I'm terrible at it. I wish I read more, like I did before the Internet are my life.

But at work, I HAVE to be disciplined. I start my day with 1 hour of communications catch-up, including stand-ups and slack. Then I turn off slack, and get to work. My phone is set to do not disturb automatically starting at 10am. I check messages when I'm on a break, going to the bathroom, on lunch, etc... But the messages are never allowed to interrupt me.

Works for me, at least.

Re: Disconnect. Offline only

#157

Post by nicklaf »

etplayer wrote: post #154
nicklaf wrote: post #147

The funny thing is, smartphones are all but useless for many tasks the minute you go into airplane mode. There are exceptions, but you're basically holding a client to a distributed operating system which has appropriated many of the promises of wearable personal computing for corporate profit. So yes, if you've already ceded your right to not be inturupted by running apps like Twitter and Facebook in the background,…

Although I would prefer to be very strongly critical of the corporate model of the distributed operating system, (and particularly I'd like to relate it to Marx's concept of alienation, commodity fetishism and the tighter control of the 'free market of ideas' which turns out to be a 'free market' dominated by monopoly of Google in particular as they freqently turn out to be), I'm not sure what else I would do with a…

Richard Stallman was largely motivated to start project GNU because he took issue with the appropriation of source code by corporations and other proprietors, which he saw as replacing the communal way of writing and consuming software at the MIT A.I. lab.

My feeling is that we are seeing today a similar appropriation, not of source code (most people who use computers at this point now see them as appliances, and wouldn't have any use for source code), but of the ability to embed externally imposed media within (and subservient to) our own private scheme of organization. Let me explain: in the old days, when you subscribed to a magazine, you admittedly would be forced to navigate it so long as you read it, but you would be free to place it and store it anywhere you like in your house, and even cut clippings out from it and rearrange them as you may. But computers are not just appliances when used as such, but instead become giant magazines which overtake the role of your entire house and mind.

We really don't have the equivalent capability to organize things as we please in smartphones, and people are using such capability less and less in desktops (and not at all so long as they only use the PC as a glorified web browser). Ted Nelson thought about the kind of organizational tools the user would need to have at his/her hands, and John McCarthy wrote about it a bit too (e.g., look for discussion here on HN in other threads about his paper, "The Home Information Terminal: A 1970 View", in which he points out that because people will control what they see, online advertising, for example, wouldn't even be possible).

As with other systems of control, my feeling is that you're not going to peacefully overthrow it so long as a large enough segment of the population is in fact perfectly happy with it, or at least unaware of any reason not to be. John McCarthy admitted this much when he conceded that most Americans are TV watchers anyway and won't need a home information terminal to do research, and Neil Postman wrote about the negative effects of television in his 1984 book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death".

Re: Disconnect. Offline only

#158

Post by davewasthere »

etplayer wrote: post #154
nicklaf wrote: post #147

The funny thing is, smartphones are all but useless for many tasks the minute you go into airplane mode. There are exceptions, but you're basically holding a client to a distributed operating system which has appropriated many of the promises of wearable personal computing for corporate profit. So yes, if you've already ceded your right to not be inturupted by running apps like Twitter and Facebook in the background,…

Although I would prefer to be very strongly critical of the corporate model of the distributed operating system, (and particularly I'd like to relate it to Marx's concept of alienation, commodity fetishism and the tighter control of the 'free market of ideas' which turns out to be a 'free market' dominated by monopoly of Google in particular as they freqently turn out to be), I'm not sure what else I would do with a…

It's definitely quite nice being able to code while mobile. I've often used a laptop while travelling, and internet connectivity can be something you get used to not having.

Sure, if I'm stuck with a particular error message, a google search is often the quickest way to resolve. And yes, if you have to add a library that you don't currently have, you're out of luck until next time you're connected. But I've definitely found some of my most productive time while disconnected.

Re: Disconnect. Offline only

#159

Post by lolsal »

khedoros1 wrote: post #122
lolsal wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems a bit disingenuous - you definitely still use a smartphone, you just claim to not directly own one. You essentially said this: > My wife has a smart phone which is great for when [I want to use a smartphone]. If you don't want to carry a smartphone around that's totally fine, but you definitely still use one. I carry a smartphone myself and only use internet-aware 'smartphone' features like maps, yelp and…

> This seems a bit disingenuous - you definitely still use a smartphone, you just claim to not directly own one. I think you're misreading the comment (or at least not acknowledging the degrees of use that the author seemed to intend to convey). There's "using a smartphone", in the sense of using one to respond to messages quickly, having an entertainment device on hand for idle moments, and generally "[being] plugge…

To say "I don't use a smartphone" in order to qualify how disconnected you choose to be is dishonest if what you really mean is, "I don't use a smartphone for [some really specific context]." or perhaps "I don't use a smartphone because I lack discipline regarding notifications/social apps/etc."

Using maps/yelp/fandango/uber covers a majority of the functionality that a smartphone provides.

Re: Disconnect. Offline only

#160

Post by jventura »

arkano wrote: post #143
Unbeliever69 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A number of years ago I did a year without the Internet (except at work, but only for work purposes). You would be amazed how much I got done without the distraction. To be more specific, I designed over 12 table top games, wrote numerous stories, and learned a ton by reading good old fashioned books.

I find that hard to believe.

And why, would i ask? For instance, I was supposed to be reading an ebook on my iPad, but instead I've been reading this thread for the past half hour...
Post reply on HN