More Productive on Old Devices

This is something I have noticed recently, I work more efficiently on my slow laptop. I have written most of the Bottle of Stories chapters here. I also wrote blogs, edit pictures, and draw here most of the time even though it has compatibility issues.

Here is the specification of my laptop.

There are probably more PCs out there that are slower than mine but I cannot properly do heavy things on mine like editing, recording, and exporting videos. You can notice that there is a lag in the drawing videos I post on my youtube. I also do not play games here because it puts my laptop at a high probability of having a blue screen of death.

What I can do here are making documents, drawing digital art (when doing lineart, I have to be really slow or my lines will wobble robotically), watching videos (with occasional glitching sounds), editing audios (audacity does not lag here), reading texts, and just doing my online assignments.

I think there is a lot of reason why I am productive on old devices so I'll try to enumerate it.

1. Less compatibility, less distraction

I have no choice but to finish what I am doing because I cannot really do anything with my old device. I remember having an old tablet, I have written 90% of Atomynous there (it stopped updating on Wattpad at chapter 7 while on my drafts it stuck on chapter 10 and above) and it was android 3! My last usage of the device was probably in 2018 or 2019. I have no smartphone back then so when it died, I eventually got my phone that I still use even now.

On my smartphone, I always got distracted by all the social media and the games I have. I cannot focus on what I have to do and I always forgot what I was about to do. It is annoying when it happens because I have to pause for a while so I can remember. That is also the reason why I rarely do my assignments on my phone. I work really slow in it. If deadlines really kill people, I should be dead by now because I used my phone for my projects (this is an exaggeration okay? I use my phone for video assignments).

2. The desire to make the best out of it

It just makes me feel bad when an old device is not being used even though it still has the basic functions to create something. I do not have a lot of fortune to buy things I want, maybe that is why I think this way. As long as I know what my device can handle and cannot handle, I will be fine until the time comes I can afford to buy a new one.

3. My own laptop

I do not really own a laptop back then. I always share it with my family members so I feel pressured to do my hobbies when someone wants to use the device. Projects I do like utau covers, digital artworks, making videos, and creating chapters take a long time to create so I feel bad when I am the only one who uses the laptop all the time. I asked my family members if I can own this laptop because it has the functions I need to do my hobbies. No one uses it, so they let me have it. The freedom to create the things I love makes me happy even with the flaws this laptop has. I feel no pressure and I feel like no one can stop me from producing content when I have this on my side. I still borrow our family PC when I am editing drawing time-lapse though, but I tend to finish it within a day or use it rarely.

I think that's it for this random blog. If you feel like you procrastinate a lot, maybe you need to use the device with less functionality. Just kidding, maybe it is the opposite? I advise that you delete or lock the application that distracts you if you want to be productive and just bring it back when you want to de-stress or you want to spend your free time.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day!