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Comment by andersa | Hacker News Reader

Because it is? It's time you can't spend on your hobbies. Of course, if repeatedly driving the same route every day is one of those, then go ahead.

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To be fair the grandparent post did not elaborate, but not everyone is locked into doing nothing during their commute.

People using public transport might be able to do all sorts of things like reading or creative work.

That’s of course hard if you need to drive yourself.

But if you are able to make good use of that time one could consider it not lost.

Maybe commute should be clocked in for jobs that don’t rely on physical presence?

You often cannot do anything on the commute because you have walk, train, walk, bus, walk and no period is long enough to get anything useful done.

I average about 20-25 audiobooks a year. Commute time was some prime listening.

I've got the John le Carré George Smiley Collection on at the moment. Blasting through snowy countryside on a beautiful sunny day listening to tales of Cold War spies? Cannot be beat.

Commute does not allow for flow-like experiences.

The key word is might. I was commuting in a big city, 1+ hour one way, regardless car or public transit. So you'd think that in the latter case I had 40-50 minutes to do stuff? Wrong. First you need to wait for the transport, technically you can read something quickly while waiting, but you always need to watch for car numbers, not to miss yours, and holding a phone out in winder is fucking cold. In summer sun blinding a screen and causing it to overheat due to max brightness. Then you are riding in the overcrowded tram or bus, one hand holding the rail not to fall, so no typing, and reading is rather limited when you are packed like sardines. Then you repeat all that for the second leg of the trip (not many are lucky to have a direct line to work). So all in all out of 1 wasted hour you maybe read for like 10 minutes total in shitty conditions. Oh, and reading standing really hurts your neck (because you are reading face down), spine (because you are always in the asymmetrical stance), and hand (carpal syndrome from holding too wide phone and doing swiping gestures with the same hand).

Commuting in the car obviously makes impossible to do anything else.

Total efficiency of commute is about zero.

> Commuting in the car obviously makes impossible to do anything else.

I don't understand why you'd think that.

Do you just sit motionless, thoughtless, and in perfect silence in the car?

When I was a younger human, riding my motorcycle into the office every day was an amazing hobby. I loved it and would absolutely go back to that daily habit if it works for me.

I generally travel at least 40 miles and sometimes a few hundred miles a day to get to work.

When else do I get to sit on my arse for a couple of hours and listen to the radio?

Literally ANYTIME else. Nothing prevents you from passively consuming radio content a few hours a day at home.

2am, when everyone else including a ridiculously energetic toddler is in bed?

Headphones.

Home?

Irony aside, I'd rather drive to meet friends or family living in the countryside than to work. And all things being equal, I'd rather bike, I'm still sightly overweight and it helps.

1. Turn off pc

2. Turn off phone

3. Turn on radio

4. Enjoy

I don't have a "smart" phone.

I rarely use my computer at home, unless I'm working on some music or video in which case I can't really listen to the radio.

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