[HN Gopher] Can "Distraction-Free" Devices Change the Way We Write?
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Can "Distraction-Free" Devices Change the Way We Write?
Author : pseudolus
Score : 23 points
Date : 2021-12-16 20:13 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.newyorker.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.newyorker.com)
| [deleted]
| egypturnash wrote:
| I sure do get a lot more art done when I am sitting at a cafe or
| in a park with all my computer's radios turned off to save power.
| I just gotta make sure I have the references I need so I don't
| have to turn on the internet again to dig something up and risk
| getting lost in the finely-tuned attention sinks of modern social
| media sites.
| hagbard_c wrote:
| I don't think so, not really. Any computer can be a "distraction-
| free" device if you want it to be by turning down all
| distraction-causing services. If you're running an OS which
| doesn't allow this you can (temporarily or permanently) change to
| one which does not get in the way. A blank screen with a blinking
| cursor, ready to accept whatever you care to write. This is
| possibly in the here and now without having to buy any overpriced
| single-purpose device, all it takes is... discipline. Don't
| switch or reboot into the normal blinkenlights-environment, just
| write.
|
| Given that his has been possible forever I see no reason for
| single-function writing devices to change how people write. If
| you want one, get one but realise that the multi-function
| device(s) you already own can be made to function similarly and
| you're adding yet another device to your "environmental
| footprint".
| digitallyfree wrote:
| Does anyone else feel that this is more of a human problem as
| opposed to be one solvable by equipment?
|
| Someone who is easily distracted when writing on their computer
| by browsing the internet, looking at social media, etc. will
| likely have the same problem when using a dedicated hardware
| device. Instead, they'll just grab their phone, stare out the
| window, or daydream instead of focusing on their work. As long as
| you turn off your email and chat apps (so you aren't bombarded
| with messages while you write), there's nothing on a computer
| that will distract you unless you willingly choose to open it.
|
| I actually do a lot of my writing on a eink device, but that's
| more for eyestrain as opposed to reducing distractions.
| ghaff wrote:
| I suppose it depends in part on the sort of writing you do.
|
| One of the reasons I basically never write stuff on a plane is
| that I find, absent Internet (and yes you can often get crappy
| Internet on a plane but it's also a good time to read books), I
| find I often need to pepper whatever I write with comments about
| checking this fact or that fact.
|
| Of course, there was a time in my life when I managed to deal
| with not having access to the Internet. I also made more factual
| mistakes and just included less supporting information than I
| would today.
|
| Even if I do a pile of research in advance, I just find there's a
| lot of overhead to not being able to verify facts, spellings,
| etc. on the spot.
| dsizzle wrote:
| https://archive.md/0XWsG
| pseingatl wrote:
| This article fails to mention Writeroom, the original
| distraction-free writing program.
| diego wrote:
| This question is backwards. We used to write differently with
| typewriters and notebooks. This is like asking if no longer using
| a car and instead walking would change the way we move around.
| The answer is "of course, why would you even ask. Just remember
| how it used to be."
| [deleted]
| rp1 wrote:
| I don't think this is a good analogy. Cars can get you long
| distances quickly. Having this ability means you can have
| suburbs outside of city centers, travel between cities in a day
| thus necessitating highways, etc. Cars make possible all sorts
| of huge, life-altering changes because of how they impact
| travel.
|
| In terms of long-form writing, word processors make spelling
| and grammar easier to fix. They also make editing easier, and
| the internet can be used to reference facts while writing. This
| comes with a few trade offs, like easily being distracted. Does
| this impact really seem equivalent to the impact of a car to
| you?
| johnchristopher wrote:
| Most likely, yes.
|
| In a previous century:
| https://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2012/07/26/nietzsche...
| Nietzsche's Transformative Typewriter and
| http://stunlaw.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-author-signal-nietzs...
| The Author Signal: Nietzsche's Typewriter and Medium Theory.
|
| But then:
|
| > The case of Henry James's move from handwriting (typewriting)
| to dictation in the middle of What Maisie Knew has been studied
| by Hoover (2009). Yet, according to the NYU professor, the author
| of The Ambassadors took this sudden change in his stride and,
| despite the fact that we know exactly where the switch occurred,
| stylometry has been helpless in this case; or, rather, can show
| no sudden shift in James's stylistic evolution that continues
| throughout his career (Hoover 2009).
| voidhorse wrote:
| I have a freewrite traveler, I don't like it and never use it,
| here's why:
|
| It uses an eink screen, which has significant latency in
| comparison with lcd and other screens that render pixels. Won't
| be an issue if latency doesn't bother you too much, but if you
| are used to super fast response times in text editors, it will
| prove annoying. It also has no backlight. Its easy on the eyes
| during the day but forget about using it in dim conditions.
|
| Their source is closed and not easily extensible. They version
| your documents using their own propriety cloud backup, which you
| can then export to various services.
|
| The file manager is clunky and the UI in general, either because
| of eink limitations or stuff on the software side, is pretty
| clunky.
|
| The firmware update process is mysterious and does not really
| give any information to the user.
|
| The outer casing feels cheap.
|
| Try as I might, I cannot find any information on the internal
| storage limits of the freewrite.
|
| Overall I personally feel the unit is way overpriced at 500
| dollars.
|
| Even though I dislike the traveller, I still loved the concept,
| and through further research discovered that KingJim, a Japanese
| company, makes a similar device, the Pomera DM200, only it has
| pretty much none of the downsides I mentioned (it uses lcd, not
| eink so its super responsive, to get files off the device you can
| use a qr code, email, or sd card) plus other features that are
| handy (split view, calendar that doubles as a journal, outline
| mode, and others). Like the freewrite, the outer casing is a bit
| cheap feeling but it feels sturdier and looks sleeker too.
|
| The only major downside to the pomera is that its ui is only
| available in Japanese (there are older models that support
| english but that are no longer in no production and are more
| expensive to acquire second hand), but even this is easy to get
| used to. The overall experience and software is imo leagues ahead
| of freewrite and it only costs around 300 instead of 500.
| naravara wrote:
| I've heard there are some community projects out there to
| enable bluetooth keyboard support on those Remarkable tablets.
| That seems like the best of both worlds to me, especially since
| you can also move the tablet off and read it like a manuscript
| and mark it up with a pen.
|
| Although the new iOS version's text-reader is pretty amazing. I
| wonder if I can just use a real typewriter and digitize the
| notes from there.
| brandur wrote:
| Thanks for the detailed notes! Since it was announced, I was
| always very enticed by the Freewriter Traveler, but never
| pulled the trigger because despite a couple very positive
| reviews, I had a haunting suspicion that it wasn't quite up to
| the standard of quality that I would've liked to see, and
| moving content in and out just seemed way too painful.
|
| The Pomera DM200 looks really interesting -- pretty sure I
| recognize this from a guy on my that had one (or something very
| close to it).
|
| A solution I've been playing around with a lot is the a
| foldable keyboard (I got this one [1]) plus an iPhone. An
| iPhone with an external keyboard doesn't give you Cmd + Tab,
| which makes multi-tasking difficult by default. In addition, it
| has the additional advantages of:
|
| * Leveraging a device I always have on me and which I charge
| every night.
|
| * If you get the right keyboard, it's full size, keeping typing
| non-painful.
|
| ---
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018K5EJCQ/
| satysin wrote:
| I have used a few of these devices and I am always disappointed
| as they lack features I had on my Psion 5mx more than twenty
| years ago.
|
| The Psion had a better screen, excellent battery life from two
| AA batteries, very good physical keyboard, excellent size,
| basically the only thing it lacks in comparison to these modern
| "solutions" is wifi. Although some even advertise _lack_ of
| wifi as a _benefit_ as it means even less distraction! I mean
| come on you 're taking the piss there imho.
|
| Things like the Freewrite Traveler are _shockingly_ over priced
| and while they may be distraction free they are certainly not
| frustration free.
| johnla wrote:
| This might sound dumb and too obvious but why not just turn off
| wifi and go fullscreen on your editor?
| scotuswroteus wrote:
| Is Any Establishment Media Article About Tech Going To Act Like
| 2011 Was a Decade Ago?
| nahuel0x wrote:
| Forget distraction-free devices, GPT-3 (and his sucessors)
| assisted co-writing are going to be the most revolutionary change
| in the way we write.
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