[avalys]

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.

[jaccola]

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…

[Fnoord]

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.

[average_r_user]

Alas, I'm not alone in meditating and thinking while taking a shower. It's one of the moments of my day when I recollect what happened, what I need to do, and what not to do.

The problem is that I can get quite lost during this phase, and hot water isn't cheap, so my SO is always threatening to put a big timer in the bathroom.

[wowzaa]

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.

[drittich]

Yes, shower thinking with warm water on my neck is absolute peak. In those conditions I'm unafraid of tackling the most challenging of thinking.

[j45]

Wear earbuds like you’re on call or recording something

[lgeorget]

I have my best ideas and illuminations for the day when I brush my teeth in the morning. Somehow, that's when I can think best.

[parentheses]

I suppose in that position your head has lower elevation, allowing for better circulation.

[pc86]

Talking to myself is the only way to crystallize certain thoughts.

[whompyjaw]

Uhhh… are you me? No other comment has hit more home. Nice. Mayne there’s something about these physical practices helping mental abilities.

[collingreen]

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.

[dgxyz]

My productivity is generally measured in how much time I sit on the porcelain thinking throne first.

[jacobkranz]

Truer words have never been spoken. That and planning out your day & thinking through problems in the shower.

[rr808]

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.

[coldtrait]

These days I'm just doomscrolling while doing that

[simsla]

This was me, and now I have horrific back pain almost every week. Fix what's broken before it breaks you.

[chongli]

My neck is screaming in empathetic pain for your future neck!

[bartread]

This is interesting, because in many ways I’m almost the exact opposite.

If I’m slouched in my chair, then I’m either completely disengaged or doing something mundane like dealing with email. If I’m upright or sat forward then I’m engaged and executing, but maybe not thinking deeply - I’m doing something I’ve already thought about and decided on. And if I’m on my feet and moving around, often doing some mundane chore like emptying the dishwasher, then I’m likely thinking.

It’s actually a really good illustration of why one size fits all solutions when it comes to work environment and conditions are often so unsatisfactory.

[dandellion]

I'm like you at 9 a.m. and like grand parent by 9 p.m.

[paulmooreparks]

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.

[bahmboo]

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!

[globile]

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...

[quinnjh]

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

[sublinear]

Let's not forget the people who work from bed with AR glasses and a projector pointed at the ceiling.

[keyle]

This is both funny and so true. I'm most productive when I'm about to fall out of the chair and I don't even care that my elbow is hanging off.

[brikym]

I've found something similar. I can measure my stress by how many coffee mugs are on my desk.

[simjnd]

It's not about productivity, it's about good posture

[TheRealPomax]

Sounds like you're literally the target audience for this app.

[amelius]

Not if there is a hard positive correlation between productivity and slouching, like they say.

[eichin]

In a previous tech bubble I figured out that the Aeron chairs were great - if you were using good posture. Slouch at all and they'd hurt you. The humanscale chair was the one that was actually good for feet-on-desk, keyboard-in-lap, staring out the window while rotating data structures in my head...

[marginalia_nu]

Gamer lean is when it gets really serious.

[crazysim]

It is OSS, I guess you could invert it.

[CTDOCodebases]

Get a lazy boy, fit a split keyboard to each arm and develop AGI then. I’m sick of these RAM prices.

[digitaltinfoil]

this is the way