my typical device use in a day

16 Apr, 2025

After getting up in the morning and picking up my phone, usually the first thing I see is Discord and e-mail notifications.

This isn’t as stressful or overwhelming as it sounds, as it’s usually just 4 messages by my fiancée that sent me memes in DMs after I fell asleep. I have separate e-mail accounts and aliases and also always unsubscribe if any marketing email reaches me, so what I see is 1-2 mails at best from real people that are nice. I read e-mails first, if there are any. I don’t often respond on my phone, usually I wait until I get on a laptop.

After seeing e-mails, I open Discord. There’s not much there either. Mostly just DMs, Group DMs, and a handful of slow and small servers. They’re all muted except replies/mentions. It takes me less than a minute to go through all servers to see if there’s anything I missed. Then I close that.

Next up is my web reader (‘RSS reader’). That’s where I follow blogs, YouTubers, and the subscriber-only RSS feed from 404media. Usually there are 2 things to check out in the mornings, if at all, and that’s it. I sometimes mark them as Read Later, especially if it’s video essays, so I have a handy list of stuff to watch when I’m on the indoor cycle, on the treadmill or in the bathtub.

Then I open the browser and type in “b”, and it fills in bearblog.dev automatically. I check out the Discover / Recent section. Really depends on the day, but more often now only 1 page is new and only 1-2 things of that interest me. I read those. Then I move on ¹.

But I have one last thing to do in the morning on the phone: Pokémon Pocket TCG. I open that, open a pack, wonderpick and get back out. 2 minutes or so.

Then I’m done catching up. In total that ranges, depending on what came in, from 5 to 20 minutes in the morning, if I am generous.

The rest of the day, I pick up my phone to

• check calendar or weather
• write in the Notes app
• get 2FA codes
• tick off lists
• put on music
• react to Discord, see mail
• start workouts in AF+
• occasionally, using Maps or public transport app
• very rarely a Signal or iMessage message

I have a work laptop and am working from home most days of the week. Not detailing that because it’s boring and confidential. What I will say though is that it’s so deep in Microsoft’s ass you cannot even imagine. Windows, Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, Access (yuck!), SharePoint, fucking Microsoft Sign-In screens everywhere. And something is always down and unusable.

I have two private Linux laptops and usually do the same on each of them; one is the mobile one for being on the sofa, in bed, the balcony or traveling, and the other is stationary on the desk with a proper holder, peripherals and cable management. I switch freely between the laptops during the day.

My startpage in the browser is this, I’m logged into Bearblog, my mail account and Discord is open. My screen is split between a PDF and Obsidian, I have a study software open (usually either Spirit City: Lofi Sessions or Chillpulse) on the second screen or in the background. That’s how I study. Everything aside from the PDF page is synced/live/a web service, so that’s what makes switching effortless.

I usually only use my Airpods during chores or outside. I barely use my tablet anymore; I just never really warmed up to digital note taking. I currently have no inspiration to use Procreate as I did in the past. It’s only good for watching videos on my walking pad/indoor cycle/in the bathtub, but even then I increasingly use my phone because whenever I grab the tablet it’s empty. Oops.

About the Steam Deck: I love it, but I go through 2-3 week cycles of playing it every day and then not playing for a few weeks. I’m currently in the middle of the Ace Attorney Trilogy and after grinding through the first few cases, I need a break (especially after that extra long bonus case oh my god) so it’s not seeing that much action right now.

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Published 16 Apr, 2025

#2025 #tech