Stop! Web Time!

[andrewducker]

EDIT: The Web is _anything in a browser_. If it's not in a browser then it's not the web. If you use a chat client that's browser-based, then that counts. If you use one that's a program, then it doesn't.

[Poll #1657175]

The reason I'm curious is Google's pushing of the Chrome laptops - which are designed to be web only. I know that a lot of my time is spent on the web nowadays, but I'm curious as to what percentage most people spend on it.

(Non-web usages of the computer are either playing non-web games (Dragon Age and Super Meat Boy this week) and watching videos - although that's mostly on Julie's PC, as it's in the bedroom.)

The second question is because there was a big battle over MS Office versus OpenOffice, and I realised that I don't really use Office at home since I stopped sending letters. I still have it (the joy of a brother who works for Microsoft), but I can't see me using it.

Comments

[innerbrat]

OK, let me try again.

I am online 100% of the time I am on my computer in my apartment - I don't ever turn off my network connection and I always have access to my email and my dropbox.

I also, sometimes, use Writer, Photoshop and other applications that operate on my hard drive. But I spend 100% of my home computer time using the internet.

[andrewducker]

But what percentage of that time is spent on the web?

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I think you're asking someone to delineate their time who's a bit like me. I am always doing something on the web, even if I'm also doing stuff that's not.

For example, right now I'm surfing LJ, writing with Erin, watching Newsnight on the iPlayer, and editing content for the Trav website. Asking me to tell you what percentage of that is online is basically impossible.

[andrewducker]

I would have thought you'd be able to tell me how much of it is what, though. iPlayer is on the web, so is LJ. Content editing presumably requires a text editor of some kind which isn't web based. What percentage of the time would you say that a non-browser window was the one which was the topmost one?

[innerbrat]

This is what I asked in the first comment.

[andrewducker]

Really? I don't parse your question the same way at all. I thought you were asking about work time versus home time (i.e. 9-5 vs evenings, or whatever your work schedule is). Clearly we were talking at right angles.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

Again, what do you count?

The iPlayer is going the whole time, and is side-by-side with my text editor as I edit => 100%

But I have absolutely no idea how much of my time is being spent answering LJ comments vs Photoshopping (I switched from content editing to image editing since that last comment) and even if I sat with a timer I wouldn't get an accurate representation - sometimes it's just a case flipping between the two windows and refreshing a page, sometimes I'll pause for a few moments, sometimes I'll take the time to type something. When I have my browser window minimised I keep my gmail inbox as the tab of focus, and half an eye will always be checking my inbox for new mail. While I'm sitting using Photoshop all my physical interaction is with that, but basically none of my attention is on it because I'm just resizing images - I'm barely looking at them.

I don't think this is that unusual - for many people there is simply no physical way to unpick the difference between time 'on the web' or 'off the web' on their computers. I can categorically say that I absolutely need non-web applications. But I am always on the web.

[andrewducker]

Aaah. I know that I have a web browser open all of the time at work, but my attention is on other things the majority of the time. I come back to it frequently, and I'd estimate that I'm refreshing at least one page every five minutes, but total time taken on the web versus other things is less than 20%. I'm surprised you don't have more of an idea how your attention is apportioned, that's all.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised that that surprises you given our many discussions about my issues with attention focus.

[andrewducker]

I'm surprised that my surprise surprises you, considering how often I forget things :->

But yeah, I guess you aren't aware of yourself in that way. Makes sense.

[innerbrat]

100%. My email, feed reader and Livejournal are all webbased.

[andrewducker]

Yes, but if you're writing a document are you also surfing the web? I can't do both at the same time, if one thing requires concentration/effort.

[innerbrat]

I can't do one thing at a time, and I am envious of anyone who has achieved that level of concentration. What marrog says pretty much applies to me.

[andrewducker]

Gotcha. I'm the opposite. I can't write anything good, or code well unless I build up the complex structures that compose it in my head. Distractions from that make it all go away, which is why interruption is pretty much anathema to getting good work done (for me).

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

Right now I'm typing into LJ, I have Microsoft Outlook on the other screen showing me my mail, my editor is opening a document from the file server, iPlayer is streaming the Bob Harris show (but equally I could have had iPlayer download a TV show to my harddisk and watch it "offline/non-web".

I have Excel, our Agile work tracker, three communicator windows (non-web IM) open and several apps minimised/on the tool\taskbar waiting for things to happen.

And that's at work ... at home it's pretty much the same though I may have a web or non-web video convertor making phone versions of US TV series that I picked from a browser window but that are downloaded by uTorrent ...

Much of what I do *can* be done on the web, but in many cases I choose to use a local app, either because I like the interface, or because I want to leave the bandwidth available for other apps.