Comment by marginalia_nu
19 hours ago
You can add friction when switching contexts using the desktop environment. This is largely impossible with browsers since they largely aren't meaningfully customizable. Opening a tab and navigating to a website is generally speaking something like 4-6 keypresses. On a desktop you can for example add more clicks by put all your launchers in a folder structure grouped by task.
Though I actually set up different user accounts for different tasks, then only add shortcuts for the tools that are in any way relevant for the given context. This creates deliberate friction when context switching, and requires upfront intent when selecting what I do. It's not that anything is off limits per se, but all undesirable state changes are made awkward. I simply can't check my email from my programming account, or check the build status on my social media account.
If I want to go from monitoring a build on CI to e.g. paying the bills, I'd have to log out from the work account and shut everything down, then log into the business account, and open the bank SSB. This makes doing these particular tasks as easy as ever, but directionless task switching a serious pain in the ass.
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