I definitely understand what they mean by a fork, at some point I stopped using computers with explicit purpose and now it can be doing, or just consuming. I think that was the fork, when computers became entertainment and consumptive devices as well as tools for doing.
I have a specific workststion for music production, work, and games, and I think that was an attempt to make each workstation more purposeful and less consumptive.
When I find myself on my phone too much, I try and switch back to only using it when I need to complete a task. But they are very good at sucking you back in.
To the permanence part of the article, I think that is what attracts me about embedded devices. You build it, and it works until it breaks, rather than until the complex alignment of software dependencies misaligns against your codebase or hardware.
A strange inversion, these used to be tools, limited but tools, to get something done, and now they're nearly unlimited but you do very few with them. Very odd.
I use the 'two computers' trick, but have it simplified to 'two screens', one for work and one for other stuff. Just getting up and changing screen is enough of a mental barrier to keep me on point.
I block many sites myself, even HN at times. I don't use any feed based apps either, instagram/fb/tiktok etc. I have had Instagram, I ditched it when they switched to infinite interest based feeds instead of just my friends.
I have a specific workststion for music production, work, and games, and I think that was an attempt to make each workstation more purposeful and less consumptive.
When I find myself on my phone too much, I try and switch back to only using it when I need to complete a task. But they are very good at sucking you back in.
To the permanence part of the article, I think that is what attracts me about embedded devices. You build it, and it works until it breaks, rather than until the complex alignment of software dependencies misaligns against your codebase or hardware.