App Meditations 1: The Subway Ride

I just entered the subway. I have 20 minutes to kill. 

At this point, there are a couple of what I term "boredom-killing devices" to choose from. A smartphone, a tablet, or a book. I had the first two with me. Should I choose the one more that is more convenient to carry or one that is more immersive? If I had 10 minutes, I would have chosen my smartphone. Less friction, but also less immersion. I had 20 minutes however, so I don't mind the tradeoff betwen friction and immersion. 

I pull out my tablet, what to do now?

I have around 200 apps to choose from. Yes, the vaunted paradox of choice. I eliminate all the apps which require internet connection, and I don't have any movies, leaving me with my reading apps and my games. 20 minutes is too short to get lost in a book so I take out long-form stuff such as Kindle, Ibooks or Goodreader. Should I write or draw? Yes, that will feel productive, but I can't force creative activities when I don't feel like it. It leaves me with Pocket or games. Reading or playing? I choose the option which would make me less guilty. I'm faced with choosing among 500+ articles. I'm biased toward recent tech stories, so I quickly read one. I get bored in the middle.

I exit the app.

I choose among the approximately 100 games I have. Which will be the lucky one? I take a quick glance on the folders I arranged: top games, brain games, puzzle, action, and miscellaneous. Some unclassified games are scattered around. They are the recent downloads, but at this point my partiality toward recent stuff takes a backseat. Top games beckon, so I enter the folder. Mostly long-form games, RPGs, nice adventures, I just want something that delivers bite-size fun. Should I have selected from the quick action games? Or maybe I mis-arranged this folder in the first place. Then, I see Asphalt 7, I have a good top-of-mind impression of it, so I enter.

The seconds trickle by, I'm waiting for the game to load. I can't believe I'm getting impatient already, should I have just read another article? It's the lowest friction activity after all. Finally, I'm in the game. Ready to race. I tilt my iPad to steer, press on the screen to boost. This is the reason why people play games right, since it doesn't require thinking? Unfortunately, the mechanical controls produces an opposite effect on me. I think about how given a choice, I would revert to low-friction activities simply because they're easier. I wonder how much time I've wasted because of how I chose to spend these pockets of free time. But maybe actually wasting them is better to recharge for bigger activities? My mind then drifts further on the series of choices I made from thinking about how to spend my 20 minutes to playing this mindless game.

10 minutes left. I click on my Evernote app, and start writing.