Why I Don't Own a Smartphone...

[steepholm]

Does anyone else find themselves choosing which cafe to work in on the basis that it doesn't have wifi? I swear, my work rate doubles in a dead spot.*

(Even as I wrote that, a wee voice was mocking me, "Ooh, working in a cafe, la-di-da!" Apparently it's pretentious, or at any rate quintessentially bourgeois, to do this - according to the chippy wee voice in my head. Yet somehow J. K. Rowling managed to sell the fact that she wrote in a cafe as a marker of her poverty! It's her equivalent of the flight to Egypt! That's why she's a marketing genius, and I am but a lowly shrub in literature's knotted garden.)

* IKEA - twenty minutes' walk from here - is a good bet. No wifi, and free coffee on weekdays. Back when my children were small, I'd take them to the ball pool there, which they loved, leave them for an hour's free entertainment while I worked and drank IKEA's free coffee, then collect them. Everyone was happy except IKEA, who at least had the bliss of ignorance. And to be fair, my walls are now lined with BILLY bookcases, so it came right for them in the end.

Comments

[fjm]

Yes,

I am not particularly happy that the BL has wi fi in the reading rooms and have taken to a schedule that goes:

Read until 3pm. Go rescue lap top from locker. Type up day's thoughts.

Having the lap top with me is now a recipe for distraction. Tho it was useful two days ago when I kept having to check whether certain Parliamentary relatives existed.

[ashkitty]

Even in cafes, I get distracted and wander around. The best I've found is to get the train, because 2 or 3 hours trapped in a train carriage through mid-Wales with no wifi or phone signal is one of the few sure ways anymore for me to get things accomplished.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine working in a cafe, not because it's la-di-da but because it's noisy and active. How can one concentrate? If I can't work at home for some reason I seek out the university library, preferably a study room where I can shut the door. Drink-sipping I do on break, and it's in fact a good excuse to get up and stretch.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I have to choose the cafe carefully - no background music, and certainly no sung musicc, for example. Ideally it will be half empty, allowing access to an isolated table, but it's true there's always the possibility that someone will inconsiderately sit nearby and start talking. At a slightly greater distance a mild hubbub is soothing, like the ocean creeping up the strand, and sometimes less distracting than utter silence.

The trouble with working at home, of course, is that I have wi-fi. I suppose I could develop some willpower, but sheesh, I can't do everything!

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I deliberately didn't install wi-fi at home. It does mean we have wires trailing around the house, but the upside is that I can unplug the laptop, take it into the sitting room and work without the distraction of the Internet. Yes, I could get up and bring the wire through and plug it in, but that involves enough effort that I can resist the temptation. Internet just a click away, however, no change!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

That seems like a good plan - but alas, it's too late for me! I think I'd be murdered if I got rid of the wifi, anwyay.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I work in the cafe at the Botanic Garden. No wifi, and no power points either, so I have to focus in order to get work down before laptop battery runs out! It's quiet because you have to pay for entry to the gardens, and also the view is nice.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

That sounds rather idyllic!

This afternoon I ended up drinking green tea at the local organic cafe. There was a Christmas hits mix in the background, but I've heard all those songs so often that they're really in the "ambient sound of ocean surf" category by now.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Ten minutes walk from home and when I'm done I've earned a walk round the garden!