

The Cost of Being “Social”: Tweeting Isn’t Free - jamesvandyne
http://www.jamesvandyne.com/the-cost-of-being-social-tweeting-isnt-free/

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dasil003
> _Like most people, I start and end my day in bed, looking at my phone._

I have to admit to sometimes rolling over and checking my phone in the
morning, but certainly not every day. If it's literally true that most people
begin and end each day in bed with their phone that's a pretty sad commentary
on the state of the world IMHO.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Its got to be generational. When I'm home with my family, my phone is in a
drawer. It doesn't get in the way of real social activity.

Maybe its single people, who have no social links at home but the phone, that
do this?

~~~
PeterWhittaker
>> Like most people, I start and end my day in bed, looking at my phone.

> Its got to be generational.

It's more complicated than that: I'm 49, my wife a few years older. Her iPad
and iPhone are on the bedside table; when she wakes, she opens the blinds and
returns to bed to catch up on FB, etc., for a while.

My phone is only ever in the bedroom if I need an alarm. Otherwise, it is
downstairs, in my office, on silent from 10pm to 7:30am. (If there is a piece
of tech at my bedside, it's my tablet, on Airplane mode: It's my e-reader.)

My first conscious moments downstairs involve needy pets and connecting my
caffeine mainline. I turn to the news only after a while, at my laptop: I
prefer the bigger screen and keyboard and trackpad for production and
consumption, except for books and essays, which I read on the aforementioned
tablet. My phones have always been second choices for consumption, and third
for production, used only for what they excel at, mobile convenience.

Mobile. Hmm....

Perhaps we need two other, more distinct words. For some, like the article's
author, a mobile device is Ubiquity: Always present, always in hand, always in
use, Primary. My wife is closer to that than I (though there are many tasks
for which she also prefers her laptop; she will go from iPhone or iPad to Air,
rarely from iPhone to/from iPad).

For others, for me, a mobile device is Necessity or Necessary Evil or Handy,
Secondary: Used only when my Primary, my laptop, is unavailable. (And even
then, sometimes my laptop comes with and my mobile becomes an access point.)

As to the real point of the story, I agree wholeheartedly. I struggle with
this myself and continue to swing between the poles trying to find the happy
medium of just enough Connection and Consumption to keep up and so much that I
am overwhelmed and unproductive.

(Sometimes my wife scolds me for not checking FB frequently enough: FB is the
first thing to go when HN, /., etc., take too much of my time.)

------
brador
I had this problem and created [http://skimfeed.com](http://skimfeed.com) as a
solution. No comments, nothing to follow, upvote, tag, or retweet. Just
straight up news catch up in 15 minutes for morning and night.

~~~
PeterWhittaker
Intriguing. I will add this to my daily news review (as first item), and see
what is left when I get to the others. Thanks for doing this!

~~~
brador
Leave feedback in the box on the site once you feel it out, many of the
features you see have been at user request and anything goes!

~~~
PeterWhittaker
Left a couple already, thanks! (Mark unread; show more. Feel free to ask me
about them if my one-liner was unclear!)

~~~
brador
Yep, I see them. Bad news! Mark as unread wouldn't work because during busy
times there's a flood of fresh links, making marking anything not useful. Show
more is interesting. Hard work to implement, but i've logged it to
investigate. Thanks for dropping by!

~~~
PeterWhittaker
Ah, upon further review, I understand: All of the links on skimfeed are links
to skimfeed, containing the original URL. That's why things are showing up as
read (visited) if I've already read them elsewhere.

Hmm, can you make the links real links (so they will be visited if I've been
elsewhere) but use some JS magic to manage whatever magic you are
accomplishing with the skimfeed-based links?

