Very unique and unpopular opinion, I know, but I hate watching ads during a show. Fuck the advertisers; I refuse to pay attention.
Rather than doom scroll, I’d love to hear what you think I should do when ads are on.
To make things challenging:
*often I’m pinned to the couch by my senior dog who I’m loathe to move unnecessarily, so getting up and doing squats is often out
*loud activities are probably out, see above
*be specific, ‘I play games on my phone’ - but what can you play casually, for 30s at a time (for example) and then happily go back to watching your show?
*use adblockers bla bla, not always possible and not in the spirit of my request.
That being said, all suggestions are great - I’m sure we’ll all get something from it. Stick it to the man!
You could ponder the meaning of life, the universe and everything
Sail the high seas and never see an ad again. Make your time your own.
Seriously. Ditch your streaming providers; ditch cable. Just get Stremio + Torrentio + Real-Debrid. And SmartTubeNext. All the video content you could ever need on your TV can be streamed instantly through these two apps. Every movie; every TV show; all of YouTube. All ad-free. Buy an antenna for local channels/sports and you’re set for life.
Learn a language. Ad breaks are long enough for one or two lessons in Duolingo and probably other apps as well.
Oh gosh I’ve tried Duolingo so many times over the years and never gotten far. I’m impressed with people who keep it up.
For me, the key was finding a regular time during the day when I do the lessons. That’s why I recommended you do it during the ad breaks.
Reached my 1700 day streak today
Send help
The owl has my family
Exercises like Duolingo are only half the battle. You need to have some immersion in the language you’re learning. Watch tv and listen to podcasts in the target language, you won’t understand (at first) but your brain will start recognising the sounds and structures.
An ex-coworker of mine recommended Mango Languages, which is supposed to be much better and also if you have a library card, you can usually get a subscription for free through them! The lessons are probably a little longer than 30 seconds, but not too much longer. I’d say a minute tops.
If you’re watching something on TV, record it and watch it later instead of when it airs. Even starting it 15 minutes later would probably let you fast forward through many of the ads.
still valid for streaming services–makes good use of the analog hole!
Meditation/mindfulness/breathing exercises
Lol Exuberation
Lovingly hold the dog and do dog-weighted squats
make a grocery shopping list (or any to-do list)
Stretch your legs by raising them straight (still sitting down) and rotate your feet
Stretch your arms up and move your neck, rotate your shoulders
Think what went well today
Install Firefox and unlock origin
Not an option for OP - think they’re talking about TV
Mute the ads
Already muted compadre
Better then muting - pause and then fast forward.
It should be just enough time to call your cable provider and cancel. We’re not in the 2000’s anymore
Offline Chess, Minesweeper, Sudoku etc. on your phone?
Using an RSS reader and catching up on news?Stretch, focus on muscle groups in your hands or arms or shoulders or neck if you can’t get up, back or hips or calfs or ankles if you’re standing
Have you ever played on boardgamearena? It’s a website where you can join a bunch of board games with people around the world. When it’s your turn, you have a certain number of hours or days to make your move (kinda like old timey chess by mail) and then go back to your life. You can be in many games at a time.
Oh that’s cool, I’ll check it out - thanks!
Get a little sketch book or tablet. Every time an ad comes on, draw an object (or dog! Or person!) in the room with you. Try to do the whole sketch over a single ad break, focusing on the biggest, most important shapes first. You’ll learn to draw very quickly.
If you already know how to draw, draw. Use it or lose it!
Disclaimer: am artist, possibly biased. Doing art for its own sake is fun for me, so it doesn’t need to have a ‘point.’
I think this is my favourite suggestion. I can draw but like most people have placed my hobbies in the ‘oh I need time to sit down and do that’ which is rubbish really (I doodled through decades of office work and meetings) so that’s certainly something I can do!
I’m also guilty of hoarding little notebooks, moleskins etc that are easy to keep on hand.
Cheers!
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They said during ad breaks. I think OP still wants to watch the show
You can play 1 blind during an ad break. Whether or not they have the self control to is another question
I suppose that goes for most suggestions, including my own. Balatro feels like such a ‘one more turn’ kind of game I’d have a hard time pausing during a run
