What I learned by cutting entertainment on my personal computer

So last month, I made this post where I said I’d go a month without any entertainment on my laptop. As a student, I use my laptop for everything from series watching and social media to reading and studying. So I wanted to test the theory that using my laptop only as a dedicated work machine would make it easier to focus on doing work on my laptop.
It’s been 30 days now and I’ve managed to not check facebook and twitter. There has been no movie or series watching either. I have however read a lot more than usual, I’ve actually managed read six books and countless articles. I can definitely say that this month has been one of my most productive months by far.


(Here entertainment is following along yoga videos on YouTube and browsing Spotify)
Lesson #1: It’s easier(ish) to focus on work
The main objective of this little experiment was to figure out if it became easier to focus on work and to that I can say, YES. It definitely has, just knowing that facebook or twitter wasn’t an option when I got stuck ensured that I kept at it. Or at least didn’t end up wasting time on social media. This is not to say that I didn’t waste time by playing games on my phone instead or went for a walk. However, for the vast majority of time it was easier to ignore the little devil on my shoulder telling me I should check my social media.
Other thing I found, was that even though I couldn’t use social media, I still managed to compulsively check my email or slack channels. Sometimes I caught myself, but the brains search for instant gratification can be scary. So even though I didn’t use my computer for entertainment, I still managed to justify checking my email because it is “work related” or read articles on Medium because it is “productive” even though I had other stuff to do.
Overall though, it was much much easier to get work done, because in my mind that was what I came to the computer to do. It might still take a few months to get rid of the urge to type in facebook, but I’m sure I’ll get there.
Lesson #2: You get to spend a lot of time with your thoughts
This one might not be directly correlated to cutting entertainment, but since I had no other alternative for entertainment than books I also got to think a lot. Mostly about things I’d read or about how to deal with the current problems life is throwing at me. But without having social media to lose myself in, I felt like I had the time to reflect and journal.
Which can both be a good or a bad thing because sometimes you can get so stuck in a way of thinking and seeing something different might help you get out of a negative thought pattern. But it can also give you more perspective or lead to more ideas.
Lesson #3: Ideas galore
This is another side effect, that I wasn’t expecting. By going for walks or reading when I needed a break, I found myself coming up with more ideas or making more connections in my head. My subconscious had time to digest the stuff I’d been reading or come up with solutions to a problem I’d been trying to solve.
I had been hammering away at a coding challenge for a job interview pretty much the entire day and I was tired and couldn’t think straight anymore. So I plopped down on my bed and read for a bit, resigned to leave the last bit till the next day. However when I got up, I found myself in front of the computer finishing up the problem with renewed energy and a different solution in mind.
This where I could have spent the rest of the evening scrolling through social media or binge watching Numb3rs and kept my mind busy with that, without finishing up. But since that wasn’t an option, I had a working solution to a problem I had been working on all day.
Lesson #4: You don’t actually miss out on anything
My biggest fear going into this experiment was telling myself that I’d miss out on a whole bunch of important stuff if I didn’t check social media every day. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Turns out the people you’re interested in will tell you whats going on in their lives if you talk to them and it’s not the end of the world if you don’t see cute puppy videos everyday.
Missing out on information or the “newest thing” isn’t so bad either, it helps you stay focused on your area because you have to search for the information you’re interested in. Seeking out information instead of being bombarded with it in a place like twitter makes for a much less stressful learning experience.
So there you have it, working does become easier if you trick your brain into thinking the computer is only a tool for work and it’s not the end of the world to cut out social media (or at least not check it on social media). There are surprisingly many benefits to cutting it out completely, most significantly, time for other activities that might be more fulfilling.
Thank you for reading, feel free to leave a comment ❤️
