Ask HN: You're on bathroom break, what productive phone app do you use? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: You're on bathroom break, what productive phone app do you use?

6 pointsfouc14 comments

Bonus: What productive app do you use when you don't have internet access?

Note: Productive could be anything like learning, reading, planning, etc. Not work-specific.

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I used WebMD to learn new health facts like how sitting in the toilet and using the smartphone can lead to hemorrhoids.

The Sears Roebuck catalog.

Ref: http://mentalfloss.com/article/23210/toilet-paper-history-ho...

I solve half my coding problems on bathroom breaks so no distraction for me :)

My normal bathroom breaks are very long when I'm home and I have my laptop with me, but I can't do that at work (small startup, one bathroom) so my breaks are short and I just sit there collecting my thoughts.

Bonus: Alkido. I've installed Alkido and read a bunch of books (epub) on my phone. I read during commute. I haven't found other apps that don't suck (they all ask for way too many permissions, access contacts and information like WiFi, etc, which I find ridiculous).

I use anki, a Spaced Repetition flashcard app. When learning a new tool/framework/etc, I make flashcards asking why it does things a certain way. This helps me learn the mental model of the tool more quickly.

I also make a flashcard if I spend a long time debugging something so that I make sure to keep the knowledge that I gained from the bug hunt.

Wow this thread is depressing..

Well, not necessarily during a bathroom break (sometimes, I just don't multitask) but I use Cool Reader, which is an eReader app. My phone contains all of the books that I have, some of which I haven't read yet, and I use the app to resume reading.

Helium IDE for BlackBerry10. ;-) In conjunction with Term48 terminal emulator and GCC. crap and code https://crackberry.com/helium-blackberry-10

Forgive my cynicism, but why do you feel the need to be productive every second of the day? It's called a 'break' for a reason :)

Brilliant. Math problems that can be done without a calculator; separated by domains such as probability, group theory, number theory, physics, AI, etc. Wonderfully stimulating really.

True Skate for iPhone. I had a job that I hated and I played this game for fifteen minutes. It helped me relax.

When in bathroom I play chess on my phone.

Safari browser to read HN

Pocket or Kindle

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