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

Working from Bed

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 232 posts

Re: Working from Bed

#61

Post by goblin89 »

kaybe wrote: post #47
Raphmedia wrote: post #25

On the opposite, I'd say it's a great way to destroy your sleep routine and habits. As a rule of thumb, your bed should be dedicated to sleep and cuddles with your significant other. "This study indicates that the use of computers and mobile telephones in the bedroom are related to poor sleep habits" https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2869... "Computer use, TV viewing, and the presence of media i…

Oohh look at these people with more than one room! (Ok it's valid for those.. but I'm still feeling a bit salty.)

A recent problem for me: I have only one room to myself, and prefer to keep work out of it. I am used to working outside from cafes, esp. coffeeshops, rotating my surroundings little by little. As of late, though, all relevant establishments are shut down in the vicinity, which disrupts both my work and sleep schedule.

Of course, I understand the need for such measures. Hopefully I’ll manage to continue consulting through this without losing a customer.

Re: Working from Bed

#62

Post by slowmovintarget »

mhh__ wrote: post #38
Raphmedia wrote: post #25

On the opposite, I'd say it's a great way to destroy your sleep routine and habits. As a rule of thumb, your bed should be dedicated to sleep and cuddles with your significant other. "This study indicates that the use of computers and mobile telephones in the bedroom are related to poor sleep habits" https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2869... "Computer use, TV viewing, and the presence of media i…

What if my significant other is a copy of Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler?

The gravitational time dilation from proximity to the book does not work in your favor, better to leave it on the shelf while you sleep.

Re: Working from Bed

#63

Post by stetrain »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #35

I've wanted to work full-time from home for as long as I can remember. It took about a month in lockdown for me to realize I hated it. Turns out, my mental health is much better when I have an office to go to. 1h20 in commute (round-trip), no privacy, tons of distractions, and still I'm happier when I get to leave the house to go to work. I suspect it's mostly just a matter of getting out of the house. Those 4 walls…

I think this is definitely exacerbated by the general lockdown situation on top of just working from home.

Previously I worked from home a couple of days per week. I augmented those days by walking to a nearby coffee place in the morning to get out of the house and get some movement in.

I'd also try to meet someone for lunch when schedules worked out.

This year many of us combined working from home with a restriction on all of those "safety valves" and in-person socialization in general.

Personally I think I was happiest with the part-time flexible work from home setup, but I think I could make full time work if I moved to an area with more walking-distance amenities.

Re: Working from Bed

#64

Post by aleksei »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #55
tolbish wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your post sounds more like an endorsement of walkable communities and dog ownership than an endorsement of commuting.

I didn't consider that I was endorsing commuting. Point well taken. If I had a nice weather-protected path to walk to work (like the underground networks in some major cities), walking would be far preferable to driving. My argument, nay, my observation, is that some type of transition between work and home appears to be vital to my well-being. I suspect that the time component for that transition is just as importan…

Many people have had the same experience over the past year. There's three things that are usually suggested which might help you, that you've touched upon.

First, you should have a dedicated work space. A room is preferable, but you can make do by erecting sight barriers to your desk for example. The main idea is to make it easy to leave your work 'at work' and not be reminded of it in your free time.

Second, clothing. If you feel your day lacks structure make sure you're not lounging about in a tracksuit all day. Put on clothes you would wear to the office before work, and take them off at the end of your day. Wear shoes.

Third, take a walk before starting work and afterwards. A 20 minute walk will allow you to plan the day ahead and get in work mode, and will let you unpack the day and unwind after work. Ignore the rain.

So basically, make going to work a ritual (as foolish or unlikely to work as it may sound). You should also minimise distractions and control impulses to do non-work related things while 'at work'. If you can, consider getting out of the house for lunch or eat at your desk and not at the dinner table. Lastly, take part or try to instigate remote water cooler chats with colleagues to keep sane.

Re: Working from Bed

#65

Post by wing-_-nuts »

Toutouxc wrote: post #57

My WFH desk is in my bedroom because of space constraints. The fact that it's there doesn't bother me one bit and I have no desire to work from bed, curled around the 14" laptop I do my coding on, instead of the 43" 4K screen I have on the desk. But there are moments (once or twice a day) when I need to work on a specific piece of code that I don't mind center stage on the laptop display and I unplug everything and m…

>instead of the 43" 4K screen I have on the desk.

I've been patiently waiting for a 32" 4k 144hz hdmi 2.1 ips display. I've noticed manufacturers seem to like making them in 27" (too small) and 43" (too big!) sizes.

I have questions. How far away do you sit? How is a 43" screen for coding? Do you use a tiling window manager to allocate all that space? Do you use it for gaming at all? If so, how hard is it to keep track of everything on the display? Do you find yourself having to turn your head to keep track of everything?

Re: Working from Bed

#66

Post by tzs »

wasdfff wrote: post #3

Speaking as someone who goes from bed to couch to bed during this pandemic due to a lack of desk space in my crampt apartment, I would murder someone if it meant I could claim their chair and desk and have actual lumbar support again.

Have you considered the floor? When I was young (late teens to early 30s) I found that laying on the carpeted floor on my stomach, with a pillow under my chest, and my head tilted back (think of Superman flying and you'll get the picture) with my computer in front of me worked great.

This probably wouldn't work out well nowadays with a desktop computer because desktop monitor sizes are usually way bigger than they were back then so you would have tilt your head too far, but it might still be fine with a laptop.

Re: Working from Bed

#67

Post by nickelcitymario »

stetrain wrote: post #63
nickelcitymario wrote: post #35

I've wanted to work full-time from home for as long as I can remember. It took about a month in lockdown for me to realize I hated it. Turns out, my mental health is much better when I have an office to go to. 1h20 in commute (round-trip), no privacy, tons of distractions, and still I'm happier when I get to leave the house to go to work. I suspect it's mostly just a matter of getting out of the house. Those 4 walls…

I think this is definitely exacerbated by the general lockdown situation on top of just working from home. Previously I worked from home a couple of days per week. I augmented those days by walking to a nearby coffee place in the morning to get out of the house and get some movement in. I'd also try to meet someone for lunch when schedules worked out. This year many of us combined working from home with a restriction…

> Previously I worked from home a couple of days per week.

That's very different from working from home every day. If it was an option, I'd love to work from home twice a week and from the office the other 3. That would be a nice balance.

> This year many of us combined working from home with a restriction on all of those "safety valves" and in-person socialization in general.

Definitely an interesting question. Would I have enjoyed working from home if I could still go out and socialize every day? Impossible to say but I'd love to find out some day.

Re: Working from Bed

#68

Post by TimTheTinker »

eric_b wrote: post #42

Working from bed is great? What? Who at the NYT thought this was worth publishing? This is a great way to increase mental health issues, decrease physical health and hygiene and generally make everything worse. Maybe in the future when morbidly obese humans float around in hover beds and purchase things only from Buy-N-Large this will be "great" - but this reeks of a strange "pro COVID lockdown" narrative I've been s…

> but this reeks of a strange "pro COVID lockdown" narrative I've been seeing lately.

Along with phrases like "the new normal" and such. There does seem to be a push to keep people from wanting and expecting to go back to the real normal anytime soon.

Though who stands to gain from this alternate reality? It would seem the liberal left wants to normalize it (even post-vaccine), but I don't understand why.

Re: Working from Bed

#69

Post by nickelcitymario »

aleksei wrote: post #64
nickelcitymario wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't consider that I was endorsing commuting. Point well taken. If I had a nice weather-protected path to walk to work (like the underground networks in some major cities), walking would be far preferable to driving. My argument, nay, my observation, is that some type of transition between work and home appears to be vital to my well-being. I suspect that the time component for that transition is just as importan…

Many people have had the same experience over the past year. There's three things that are usually suggested which might help you, that you've touched upon. First, you should have a dedicated work space. A room is preferable, but you can make do by erecting sight barriers to your desk for example. The main idea is to make it easy to leave your work 'at work' and not be reminded of it in your free time. Second, clothi…

Great tips! I particularly like the idea of creating a ritual. I think you've nailed it on the head with that one.

Re: Working from Bed

#70

Post by xwdv »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #35

I've wanted to work full-time from home for as long as I can remember. It took about a month in lockdown for me to realize I hated it. Turns out, my mental health is much better when I have an office to go to. 1h20 in commute (round-trip), no privacy, tons of distractions, and still I'm happier when I get to leave the house to go to work. I suspect it's mostly just a matter of getting out of the house. Those 4 walls…

I have noticed that most people that say this tend to just have shitty homes. Not every home is suitable for working from, you really need all sorts of amenities and plenty of space to walk around and refocus, and a good outdoor area. If you literally just have 600 sqft of bedroom, living room and kitchen then yea I can see why going to the office would be better.
Post reply on HN