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Ask HN: Stay productive while commuting offline

2 points by adontz ↗ HN
I live in a city where I have to spend 30-45 minutes in subway commuting to work. And subway is really a train moving in tunnel deep under the ground. Unfortunately there is no internet connection there and it's boring as hell. From another side, it's not me who's driving, I have both my hands free and can focus on reading safely. I cannot pull out laptop and work, not that much space around in peak hours. Phone is totally available. maybe tablet. I cannot read HN, because it's obviously a website with links to other websites. What are my options to stay productive?

3 comments

[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 19.6 ms ] thread
ctrlaltdev
I would say: don't be productive. Use that time to read books you never took time to, watch shows you didn't either.

In my opinion, being productive is not about squeezing as much as we can in our days, but being in the right mindset and taking breaks.

flukus
If you can get a seat you should be able to pull a laptop out and be productive, netbook 10" form factors are perfect for this. If you can't get a seat, is it possible to adjust hours to less crowded times? Last time I had a long commute I would start at 8AM or 10AM, nothing in between.

How about writing planning and documentation? This is often building the outline and just getting words down, you can come back and look up specifics later and the distraction free environment can help. Write the sort of documentation that helps you be productive at other times.

Get an RSS reader that caches articles, that can replace a lot of HN and without the internet connection you won't have the time suck of comments.

Alternatively, don't be productive, just keep yourself entertained.

cerberusss
You could read offline stuff. I heavily used a Kobo e-reader, because it has Pocket support built-in. Very nice.