Comment by avalys
10 hours ago
You can measure my productivity by how slouched I am.
Sitting up straight at my desk, chair locked, perfect posture? I’m doing nothing, maybe looking through System Preferences to change the system highlight color.
Sliding down in my chair like jelly, with my shoulders where my butt should be and my head resting on the lumbar support? I’m building the next iPhone and it’ll be done by 2 AM.
This is how things get built for me as well. I have a standing desk and like using it occasionally but if you see me standing at it you can bet I'm doing something typical like emails or chat and not thinking deeply.
Funny, I’m the same. I also like taking walks to think but I’ve found that I must have my head pointing almost directly down (I.e. looking at my feet). It’s also how I stand thinking in the shower, with the warm water hitting my angled neck. Maybe something beneficial about that position of the neck, or maybe just habit!
I will also have conversations in my head during my walk, I’ve done this my whole life and I’m not sure to this day whether my lips move during these or not. In any case, I must get some funny looks with head bolted to the ground mumbling to myself…
Sing it!
As for the software. I would not want a camera on 24/7 (on any device, a compromise being my doorbell, which isn't cloud connected). It'd defeat the small LED which informs you it is on (since it is always-on), and if the machine is compromised this is a method to receive personal data.
Actually, I'd prefer a hardware killswitch on things like camera and microphone.
I suppose in that position your head has lower elevation, allowing for better circulation.
In my case, though walks help declutter my mind somewhat, for deeper thoughts, I have to write it down sitting or laying in the bed in the worst of positions. Thinking too deeply while walking only leaves me anxious in the end as I tend to get sidetracked a lot in conversation and always have to restart the conversation over and over again.
Uhhh… are you me? No other comment has hit more home. Nice. Mayne there’s something about these physical practices helping mental abilities.
Wear earbuds like you’re on call or recording something
I've fully embraced looking insane in public. Try it some time; you won't go back.
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My productivity is generally measured in how much time I sit on the porcelain thinking throne first.
Truer words have never been spoken. That and planning out your day & thinking through problems in the shower.
If you delete social media, and leave your phone away from your person all day with notifications turned off, you can have these moments all the time it turns out.
Considering how much more productive these moments are for me than the bullshit I used to do on my phone and social media, it was an easy decision to make.
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Walking the dog is my go to for thinking through problems. The dog really loves the hard problems as they get a longer walk.
I never understood this. Is this why the cubicles are always full in the office? WTF I go in there take a dump and leave while the people on each side are just silent the whole time. I can think of much better places to think.
[dead]
This was me, and now I have horrific back pain almost every week. Fix what's broken before it breaks you.
My neck is screaming in empathetic pain for your future neck!
It would be much more interesting that the system blur when it finds we drift from being "in the zone".
"I'm going to quickly shift from my terminal to this chrome tab to check this documentation but while it loads I'll get a dopamine hit from X."
Blur the screen and help me get back on track...
it will be interesting to see as these tools emerge to what extent the undercontrolled behavior is a piece of a larger cycle of attention and context mgmt, or if all of that time can be nudged back into the zone
I've found something similar. I can measure my stress by how many coffee mugs are on my desk.
Exactly what I came here to say. I've been programming for 40 years, 35 professionally, and I didn't find my ergonomic, no-pain, no-RSI happy place until I stopped following advice to sit up straight. I set my chair with just enough resistance, set the head rest where it puts my eyeline directly on my monitors, which are set considerably higher than average and about a metre from my head. I can work for hours like this now, with no pain.
I could never use an app like this. Maybe I should write one that blurs the screen when I don't slouch.
That’s funny, but this is about physical health not productivity. I’m guessing you are relatively young. Desk jobs are tough on the body!
Gamer lean is when it gets really serious.
Let's not forget the people who work from bed with AR glasses and a projector pointed at the ceiling.
Sounds like you're literally the target audience for this app.
Not if there is a hard positive correlation between productivity and slouching, like they say.
this is the way