I try not to as much these days, not really sure why. Might just be lifestyle changes mean I’m not in front of my triple monitor rig nor doing anything particularly interesting with my time lately.

But when I am/was working, and particularly before I developed a bunch of substance abuse habits, I would constantly second screen comfort movies and shows that I practically have the scripts for memorised. I found that “actively ignoring” a distraction would help me focus and stay in flow states. Again, likely ADHD/ADID gang shit.

But I’m trying to fully engage with the longform media I do consume now. Partially that’s just because I noticed I’d often miss things or find myself completely forgetting that I’d seen something then only have partial recollection when I’d realise I was rewatching something by mistake.

Mainly though its an active attempt to keep training my brain to maintain focus and not let my inattentive traits get worse. Seems to be working, too. I’m even getting way better at fully appreciating anime, where I used to find myself having to sorta choose whether I was going to follow the dialog OR appreciate the animation. Its nice.

It is hard to resist the urge to multitask when I’m watching stuff on a multimonitor setup and I imagine I’ll keep doing that in the case of active distraction focusing strats, but I definitely prefer putting my phone away to watch a movie or whatever for leisure these days. Feels better for my cognitive function overall and sorta “more respectful” to the people who made the media I’m consuming. (No intended moral judgment on second screeners here though, just a personal thing.)

I only do it during a movie if the movie is boring. But whene I’m playing video games or doing something on my laptop, I have a YouTube video or podcast playing on my phone. Also I have ADHD so that probably factors in

I don’t think I know what second screening is, but I infer it means looking at something on a second screen while nominally engaging with the first?

Never, with a few exceptions.

Sometimes if a game’s loading screens are long, I’ll have something to read on the other screen.

Rarely I’ll look something up on Wikipedia if a movie brings up something I want to know, but if it turns into a rabbit hole I’ll either pause the movie or just leave the tab open to read later.

One of my friends used to play a match-3 game while watching TV all the time, and it seemed weird to me. If the show isn’t that interesting I just won’t watch it.

I’m an old, so I make a real conscious attempt at never second screening. I put my whole attention on whatever I am doing. This is for me mostly, but I do think it’s a good habit to pass on to my child, who is not quite old enough to have a second screen, but he is getting there and definitely is old enough to see what habits I have.

If I had a second screen, I would.

I have to settle for listening to things in the background instead.