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!
Keep a musical instrument nearby. I have an acoustic guitar an arms length away. That might not work for you due to your lap dog. A harmonica or jaw harp would work better
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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It should be just enough time to call your cable provider and cancel. We’re not in the 2000’s anymore
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!
Drink water and walk around your living room. Stay hydrated and get a little exercise in. I also sometimes play mini crosswords because they can be done in less than a minute.
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
Lovingly hold the dog and do dog-weighted squats
Install Firefox and unlock origin
Not an option for OP - think they’re talking about TV
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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
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.
Offline Chess, Minesweeper, Sudoku etc. on your phone?
Using an RSS reader and catching up on news?Ukulele
Watch YT shorts during the ad break. Use a laptop + Firefox + uBlock origin to block the YT ads. If you prefer to use a tablet or a phone, it’s also possible to block the ads.
The shorts are bad, but still better than TV ads, but the good thing is, they can be interrupted as soon as the ad break ends. Watching longer videos is also an option, but there will be uncomfortable interruptions.
Now that you have an alternative video source competing with old school media, you can start to think about which one you actually enjoy more. Maybe you’ll find yourself watching more YT than whatever fake reality BS is on TV.
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!
