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.

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

If I had a second screen, I would.

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

You’re on my second screen right now

I second screen while working even though my job requires my full audio-visual attention.

I do it too often. I’m doing a rewatch of Dragon Ball Z and it’s not as fulfilling as focusing on it alone, but I see something familiar and I end up curving checking out and playing Animal Crossing.

I’ve been saying I want to read a book on my reader app, but my phone is the worst place to keep my books. Part of the reason I want to isekai from here is to disconnect from the mandatory phone.

I have ADHD, does that answer your question?

I’m writing a paper, listening to YouTube and posting this at the same time all while recovering from the flu. Get on my level.

I am definitely not going to burn out in an hour.

i play games where I dont have to think or read, mostly skateboarding or snowboarding games, while listening to podcasts or youtube videos

yea, i like to rewatch stuff or watch video essays while i draw or play non-narrative video games

i personally can’t stand doing it for too long at once though it starts to grate on me and then i have to read or write in silence

I would regularly use two or even sometimes 3 screens… it did not do my attention span any favors. could be something like a movie/game on tv, laptop open, and looking at phone. bleghhhh why

i put long youtube on my second monitor when i play a video game that doesn’t have voice acting

I do it whenever I’m playing something like Factorio, but not if I’m playing something for the first time (like I currently am FF7 Rebirth) and actually want to hear and focus on the experience.

Right now I’m watching old YouTube stuff I like, yesterday it was Red vs Blue but I stopped around halfway through season 7 cuz it was awful and now I’m once again rewatching all of HBomberguy’s videos.

I listen to podcasts while playing games, but if I have to read or think I need just game audio. I never watch videos/tv shows on a second screen, though.

I’ve got a podcast playing on a tablet while typing this