this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2023
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Recently deleted Instagram, Reddit and disabled YouTube shorts. I now noticed how much I miss doing something — like when sitting in the train or during breaks at work.

So what do you do with your idle time? Any suggestions?

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[–] theonyltruemupf@feddit.de 30 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I bought a Steam Deck 1 1/2 years ago and most of my idle time is now spent playing all the games I never had time or energy for. It's amazing if you're into video games.

[–] pete_the_cat@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

I did something similar and got a USB C expansion controller for my Galaxy S23. Find a few good mobile games and add in RetroArch and other emulators with a bunch of ROMs and you have yourself a mobile gaming rig!

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

honestly just sit with boredom for a bit, you will detox and find something interesting to do.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 14 points 2 years ago (1 children)

12 hours of laying in bed, staring at the ceiling later

"When does the idea happen?"

[–] stoicmaverick@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Dude, I have kids. The mere idea of this being even a possibility from time to time sounds amazing.

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[–] effakcuL@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I have so much Idle time during my commute, that I picked up duolingo to learn spanish. If that is too much I tend to just listen to audiobooks/a d&d podcast

[–] Littleleeroy@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

That’s the same route I took. I hate Duolingo but used Memrise to improve my vocab for Italian. Needed something to do besides scroll aimlessly.

[–] orizuru@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

I have a RSS reader that I check everyday for articles / blogposts from websites I subscribe to.

The interesting stuff gets saved in Wallabag to read later. It syncs with my phone, and I can read offline whenever I got some time to kill.

[–] hulemy@ani.social 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Any interesting feeds you'd recommend? My phone launcher has a built in RSS feed which is really nice

[–] orizuru@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 years ago

I follow the daily best posts on hacker news https://hnrss.github.io/

This exposes me to quite interesting blogs (mainly tech, but not always). If I find someone worth following, I'll add their blog to my list as well. That's how I've been building my RSS feeds over the years.

From the non tech blogs that I've found there, from the top of my head, these are nice

https://going-medieval.com/ - medieval history professor's blog. She's quite witty, and makes super interesting posts about the daily lifes of people in the middle ages.

https://brr.fyi - blog from an IT guy working in a scientific research center in Antarctica.

[–] 200ok@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What RSS reader do you use? Would you recommend it?

[–] orizuru@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Depends on the effort.

If you want a newbie friendly one with syncing: Feedly

If you care about open source and controlling your own data (but don't care about syncing). Maybe liferea? There are tons of options.

If you care about syncing and don't mind self-hosting: miniflux.

I use miniflux, but requires some tech knowledge to set up.

[–] 200ok@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago
[–] Hyggyldy@sffa.community 10 points 2 years ago

Endlessly screaming in to the void

[–] iloverocks@feddit.de 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Hang around on Lemmy

Lisinig to music

Practice norsk via Duolingo(I know it isn't foss)

[–] AccountMaker@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You might be interested in Clozemaster for language learning. It has collections of most frequent words where you get a sentence with a word missing that you have to input. That way you just get blasted with hundreds and thousands of sentences in your target language.

[–] iloverocks@feddit.de 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

It isn't Foss ether so I see no point to switch

Edit: I found librelingo but unfortunately it doesn't have Norwegian as a language option https://librelingo.app/dev/

Duolingo is not FOSS

[–] skybreaker@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Video games, TV, books, music. Usually in that order.

Used to be reddit, but I left that crap during the great migration.

[–] hulemy@ani.social 3 points 2 years ago

I still get sucked into Reddit stories from time to time, they're so bad but so entertaining >:(

[–] zacher_glachl@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

While commuting, I mostly read ebooks, listen to fiction audiobooks or long-form history/pop science podcasts/youtube videos. Depending also on whether I am driving that day or taking the subway. Breaks at work, I just chat with colleagues, and scroll lemmy or the birdsite on toilet breaks.

[–] SHamblingSHapes@lemmy.one 8 points 2 years ago

Podcasts and audiobooks.

And I don't get hung up on those being "better" than YouTube videos. There are educational videos and there is enjoyable fluff and there is actively crap content (think stuff that makes you go into negativity spirals).

Educational YT is the same as educational podcasts or audiobooks, imo.

I read a lot of books.

And by reading, half is a actual book. The other half is a audiobook while doing chores, working out, or general crafting.

I can honestly say reading non-fiction books about various subjects helped me a lot in life. From social issues and self-help, to finances, to dating. I grew up poor in a pretty rough environment, and climbed out of it because of reading.

[–] Siddhartha-Aurelius@kbin.social 6 points 2 years ago

I am trying to reduce distractions and be more mindful of my surroundings. The sights, smells, and sounds of everything around me and my existence as part of it all.

It is still new to me and I find myself unconsciously getting my phone from my pocket and scrolling because it is boring. However, the effects I feel like reduced anxiety and depression are worth it. I also get to see things that I would miss if I were distracted by electronics.

Maybe practicing mindfulness could be beneficial for you as well.

[–] librecat@lemmy.basedcount.com 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Sudoku, specifically 6x6 libresudoku (available on f-droid)

[–] you_dont_666@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Thank you! Downloaded and love it

[–] Chetzemoka@startrek.website 6 points 2 years ago

I talk to you folks lol. I use this pretty much the same way I did Reddit. Something kinda brainless to scroll when I'm standing in line. And the more you comment, the more you have to read/do on here, so when I'm particularly bored, I talk more. I also don't have any other social media.

I have a couple phone puzzle games I play. If I know I'm gonna be sitting like in a waiting room for a while, I'll take a book with me. For the longer moments sitting at home, podcasts and music.

[–] MarioSpeedWagon@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

How do you disable YouTube shorts?

[–] hulemy@ani.social 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I'm on android so I used ReVanced, though I recently deleted the YouTube app and installed LibreTube which has no YouTube algorithm and no shorts tab. (I use the IzzyOnDroid repo with F-Droid)

[–] iloverocks@feddit.de 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Libretube is fine but it crashed a lot on my phone i'm now using" newpipe xsponsorblock" it took me a long time to import all my subscriptions but it works really great. The only alternative I would considered is freetube for android

[–] hulemy@ani.social 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There is a critical bug in the F-droid release, but the maintainers seem to have a bit of an internal conflict about publishing the app on F-Droid, the IzzyOnDroid/GitHub release is pretty stable.

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[–] Arsinoe@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

I'm almost constantly crafting something. I've been knitting for about 16 years and have picked up various other small/portable crafts along the way. I like to put a podcast on and listen while I keep my hands busy.

[–] theywilleatthestars@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

dominion.games

[–] Mamertine@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

Audiobooks

Stream tv on my phone. I used to watch Crunchyroll (anime streaming service) on the train.

[–] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago

Just what I'm doing right now. Not much else to do.

[–] ViscloReader@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I listen to gdc talks and other tech related talks. They are pretty informative (with a grain of salt). Bonus point, they make me feel smart because of the reverb and the audience clapping ^^

[–] AlmightySnoo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Purely idle would for me be a walk, meditation or just sit down and just listen to music. When I'm commuting, it would be gaming or quick chess puzzles.

[–] sock@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

learn something

exercise

stretch

listening to music staring at a wall while blazed out of my mind

gaming

options r endless really (i say while laying in bed doing nothing)

[–] kratoz29@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago

Using my Miyoo Mini, or my DS Lite or DSi XL.

IMHO handhelds are truly a gem to be kept, and until streaming gaming (appears to be "the future") is widely available for everyone we are better with the retro gaming community.

Honorable mention to larger handhelds such as the Switch or the Steam Deck...

[–] Lenny@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 years ago

Airline travel tactics, which for me is basically catching up on shows or watching movies. I’m used to starting and stopping a movie 10 times throughout the day and still enjoying it. Gotta have the downloaded though, that’s key.

[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Basically just anything I can while waiting for time to pass. I can't get deeper into something, because there's not enough time. Usually that ends up being walking back and forth and thinking, having a fake conversation in my head.

like when sitting in the train

I don't consider that idle time, but a fun activity. I often take a train or bus nowhere. That means, as far as I can go and back. Or try to make my commute as long as possible. For example, I found nice connections allowing me to extend my commute from school from just 18km to 133km, and it's only €0.90 more expensive.

[–] hulemy@ani.social 2 points 2 years ago

I listen to music and have imaginary concerts sometimes. Now if I could only have a good voice and be multilingual...

[–] Bdtrngl@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Gaming, 3d printing, wood working, and whatever project my wife has cooked up for me that week.

[–] loudWaterEnjoyer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

And you do all that in a train?

[–] Bdtrngl@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You can do all the conceptual and planning stuff, which is the longest part for me.

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[–] willya@lemmyf.uk 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Lemmy, podcasts, music, YouTube, games.

Backbone is a great controller for gaming.

[–] Shinzid@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

For long drives/commutes I love listening to podcasts, banter/discussion-heavy streams, or audio books. Also love a bit of karaoke in the car.

If I'm at home, I'd often get into something for bit. Maybe try a new game for a week or two before I grow bored or maybe try out a niche hobby for a while like figurine painting.

I'm not the type to do much productive things at home so my main hobbies are usually outside. Golf, kendo, gym, bouldering - anything that I can sink time into and gradually get better and meet new people is my jam. I also spend the idle time at work or at home learning or researching more on the hobbies I enjoy.

I'd recommend giving audio books a try. There's so much to choose from and you can find whatever book to match your mood at the time.

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