I try to read more but what else is there when I don’t wanna just read? I’ve done some notebook stuff too but I’ve found using it too much makes me be anxious about writing a lot down lol.
For instance as I lay on the bed for 10-20 minutes waiting for my child to take their nap. Do I just stare into the void?
Point at a perfectly functioning thing on my server, blow it up, relearn and fix the thing.
An IT friend of mine said “your home server should be like a zen garden…”. I was taken aback. Where else would I get to play with all the new shit I need to learn eventually? Surely not in production. And the home server is meant to serve up distractions not files.
I miss adderall.
Something slow or still and beautiful. I relate to wanting some of my time back whenever I get the smallest moment only to find that nothing is good enough to balance out the activity of rest of the day. Low stimulation activities are also not good enough and are boring but can be a much needed moment to get grounded. The best solution is to address what’s really draining you and address it in a way that is not as draining for you. Far easier said than done, I know.
games? I found a civilization port for the phone and it sucked up a lot of time. Turn based so you can do it for a few minutes at a time: https://yairm210.itch.io/unciv
learn a language? duolingo and other apps are out there
I do crosswords with an app that downloads a variety of them for free.
Reading on my e-reader (e-ink) or print books. Short periods - eg waiting for a kid to do something - are good for poetry. Meditating. Listening to music. Listening to podcasts. Sometimes I’ve taken out some paper and doodled while listening to something - which is really gratifying (even though I’m no Picasso). I also cook, which is wonderful. Or I go for a long walk. I’m also actively trying to fill my time with offline human engagement - volunteering twice a week and participating in a men’s group (a safe space for men to share their experiences).
Listen to music or watch a video, if you don’t want to read?
I enjoy thinking, closing my eyes for a bit, or focusing on my breathing. Or I’ll listen to the birds outside.
That’s a cute little webapp
Yep! I wish there was a way to narrow it down to broad topics, keywords, or geolocations, but I make myself go to it whenever I feel the urge to look at Instagram.
sit with your boredom for a bit, its healthy. or rather its unhealthy to be constantly bombarded with dopamine for nothing. enjoy your freedom from the screens.
Yeah, I’ve also found that just being bombarded with information all the time tenses me up. You might think of scrolling Lemmy or similar as “idling”, but obviously your brain is still processing information when you do that.
Just rawdog it? No thanks
theres always drugs
You need to practice mindfulness. People should be OK with 10 minutes “staring into the void” and this is exactly the damage phones did to us
Edit: if I really want to look at my phone I open Wikipedia and check out the featured article or maybe the top read of the day list. It’s not brain rot and it’s not that fun either but it’s time well spent
mindfulness
I practice this alot during the day. It helps sometimes to disconnect from the world, and rejoin the server at another timepoint.
My goto device time killer is chess.com. It’s both educational and fun (assuming you don’t get your ass handed to you by a bot 😅).
FYI, lichess.org offers the same functionality (arguably better) for free. It’s a crowd-funded, open-source non-profit, free of any ads or trackers.
Depends on the mood I’m in. Lately, I’ve been drawing in a tiny sketchbook I bought because a little sketchbook isn’t very intimidating, and I can just do a few quick practice drawings or commit to a small but detailed piece for an hour.
Another thing I like to do is lay on my back with my headphones on, put on some music, and do literally nothing except stare at the ceiling and listen to all the little details of my favorite songs that I don’t hear when I’m doing other stuff. It’s my form of meditation since “normal” meditation has never worked for me personally.
If I am by myself and don’t want to engage my devices or read, I will try to do something productive, like clean or organize a space that is messy. When I lay with my kids as they go to bed, I usually stare into the void and reminisce about them when they were younger. Thankfully they now fall asleep super fast, so I don’t have to spend 10-20 minutes with them. When they were much younger, I’d fall asleep with them until my wife (at the time) would wake me for my bedtime.
Puzzles. Mini crosswords, wordle, etc.
Lately I’ve been enjoying playing Tetris DX on my Gameboy in my spare time. Keeps the brain busy and me away from my phone.
I go out with my dog and kick a ball around. We both use some energy. The day doesn’t seem as slow any more. I actually have more energy to want to do something after. It’s not much but it works.
