off-topic 2019-07-05 | Slack Archive

lread13:07:54

My wife made me aware of the fact that I can spend many hours in front of my screen without budging. Is that healthy, she asked? Uh, probably not? I answered. So I’m trying the in your face interrupter https://www.dejal.com/timeout/ on my Mac. I’ve got it set up to remind me to stretch every 30 minutes and to walk away every 2 hours. It has really made me aware of how fast time flies while at my computer. Anybody else use reminders to take a break?

💯 4

Daniel Hines15:07:58

I love this program. It’s made a big differene.

gklijs17:07:43

I rather not, I used such a program in the past, but I get annoyed enough of having to go for a toilet break noe and then when I'm in the flow.

lread17:07:15

I set the half hour break to 15 seconds. I don’t feel it breaks the flow state - but I could be wrong.

gklijs17:07:07

I don't know what I used before, and with what settings. But in practice most of the time it was just an annoyance that I clicked away and continued programming most of the time.

carkh13:07:50

i have a child that does that job over-zealously

😅 20

Mno13:07:35

I'm pretty sure children also adjust the intervals almost randomly just to make sure you can't get used to it.

sogaiu13:07:24

@lee it's not anything i wish on other folks, but back pain that kicks in within 30 minutes of sitting down can tend to help in the direction of not staying in front of a computer for long periods 🙂

lread13:07:29

Sorry to hear that you are suffering back pain. I don’t know what you’ve tried or what might work for you but I have had great success with the McKenzie method. https://www.amazon.ca/Steps-Pain-Free-Life-Rapidly-Shoulder-ebook/dp/B00DMCPJ3Q

sogaiu13:07:19

well, it's way better than before and has been improving 🙂 thanks for the suggestion!

lread13:07:12

Ha! So you don’t need an in your face interupter app when you have children!

seancorfield17:07:07

I've used a pomodoro timer for this purpose. The 25 minutes "on" and 5 minutes "off" pattern is good for focused working anyway, and just stepping away from your computer in any of those 5 minute slots is an easy pattern to get into.

👍 4

dmaiocchi17:07:36

I have a dog for implementing the pomodoro pattern 😁

dmaiocchi17:07:25

I must admit that waking with the dog through the day it helps to refresh and think better

👍 8

dmaiocchi17:07:23

But movement help lot imho. I really enjoyed also the talk from Rich on hammock development

2019-07-05

Channels