Why Monitors are Counterproductive for Coders
I quit using an external monitor a year ago and have no remorse whatsoever. On contrary, I feel that I am more flexible and independent in choosing my own working environment than ever.
Many engineers including me in the past think that external monitors increase productivity. I saw many pictures of developers using not one, not two, but three external monitors and I know all advantages of it. But! More monitors don’t mean more work can be done. Especially, if you’re a software engineer and I’ll elaborate.
Do I need more code on the screen?
The first and foremost reason why external monitors hurt productivity is that they expand the amount of data visible to users. It sounds like an advantage for any kind of work… Until we consider a well-known fact that the average human can keep in short memory a maximum of 5(±2) mental items. The less data we keep in mind — the more focused we are and the easier we can enter the productive flow state. Each variable, condition, for loop, object creation, and a return statement is a mental item.
One method can contain a lot of statements that need mental focus and from my experience — the less I have on display — the fewer distractions my mind has.
