[FooBarWidget]

Does this approach work for anyone? For my life, I've found that if I'm not behind the computer then I'm not in a productive situation anyway, even with AI access. I don't have a setting where I can concentrate for a long time and think clearly. For examole when watching children, doing groceries, during transit (probably have to change train in 20m, or walking to next destination). No convenient access to a notepad and pen. On a phone it's also inconvenient to do research.

For me personally I've found two better uses of in-between time:

1. Micro exercises. Really important for health and longevity, especially when it's hard to find dedicated time for exercise.

2. Resting. This means no phone. Yeah hard to resist doom scrolling. Just relaxing muscles and breathing exercises, calming down the nervous system. Increases long term resillience and reduces stress.

So I'm a bit puzzled. If you are in a situation where you can concentrate, why not just pull out a laptop? Typing on phone is really annoying. Even complex conversations with AI I prefer doing on a laptop.

Perhaps there are coding tasks where the prompt is not too complex and it's more about writing code. But you still have to review the result. That's even more annoying on a phone than writing text.

[jebarker]

I feel similarly. I am happiest and healthiest all round when I focus on the one thing I have chosen to do at any given time rather than figuring out ways to multi-task.

I do however enjoy choosing to do math/coding adjacent activities for leisure or learning sometimes when I'm away from the computer. I've found that it was a net positive in my life to add in puzzles/exercises that I can do with pen and paper in those circumstances.

[jcul]

Yeah, even if I'm on a plane or a train I probably wouldn't pull out my laptop.

Lack of space, vibrations etc. even though I can do a lot of work offline if the internet is spotty. It's just not enjoyable.

I prefer to read or chill out.

I kind of envy people who are like oh yeah I coded the feature on the flight... I can't really get in the zone in that environment.

Saying that, I assumed this post was a joke. ssh to a work machine or a personal machine through a VPN is not new, even if you happen to run claude code in that terminal.

I'm interested in these "micro exercises".

[FooBarWidget]

Micro exercises: It's nothing fancy. While walking in the park, watching the kids play, waiting in a queue or in the train or something, when you have a minute to spare, you can do wall push ups, isometrics, leg raises, step jacks, squats, row pull with your jacket against a pole, etc. Exercises that don't require equipment. If you get an exercise band then you can carry it with you (very light and compact) and then there will be more types of exercises you can do. This will raise some looks, but they tend not to be negative, some people even praise me for staying active in unusual contexts.

Another thing I can recommend is Chinese style radio calisthenics (guang bo ti cao, look it up on Youtube, all Chinese people learn it in primary school and do them daily at school). Full body cardio like and stretching exercises that you can do while staying in one place (you just need space around you). Takes 5-10m, better warming up than just walking and swinging arms and covers a lot of basic things. The entire approach seems virtually unknown in the west.

[yoz-y]

It worked for me for finishing my app (vps+shellfish+gemini-cli), I've done a lot of coding like this on the train and in between sets in the gym, picking up on the more complicated stuff when at home.

But also all of the changes I made from the phone were incremental.

[FooBarWidget]

In between sets!? I've found that if I do any activity in between sets (like watching Twitter) I'll just end up spending way too much and then make the exercise session super long. Also I can't focus and write a serious prompt or review serious results in just or 3 minutes. But maybe it works if the app is sonething you've recently worked on and you already have very clearly in your mind what you want, it just needs to be done.

[rbergamini27]

^^ I probably rely on AI slop than most people on this thread. I've found with the gaps with waiting on Claude Code output match the frequency I'm already checking my phone out of addiction. By no means the healthiest way to spend my time, but if I wanted to spin up a simple website or build out the framework for a project doom coding works for me!

Agreed 100% there are healthier uses of my time!

[dinkumthinkum]

I think the problem you are having is that you are actually thinking clearly and rationally and are not suffering from this incessant brain rot that is the new normal.