My concentration ability takes a long time. Working in a laptop almost 15 years ago has saved me

Our care economy is broken. Completely. We are continuously bombarded by stimuli that come by many ways and the consequence is clear: We distracted ourselves with the flight of a fly. It is curious how this is causing a change not only in us, that we look for methods not to distract us, but in elements such as an entertainment industry that has changed its way of capturing our attention.

There are two very clear examples of this. Music is one more or less obvious, with increasingly short songs (just a couple of minutes) and, some, with the chorus as the beginning of the theme. In addition, these choruses are also short to fit in the 15 seconds that you can share in an Instagram story. Another example is that of films, with trailers of a couple of minutes that begin with a trailer trailer itself.

Here are an example of ‘TOP GUN MAVERICK‘, whose trailer starts with a five -second teaser with images that we will see below:

Many more films make this, being a marketing resource that begs us to Let’s pay attention For two minutes. They seem to beg a “Please, pay attention to me, cool things come”. Due to that constant information bombardment, We seek to be productive when we are hyperstimulated And we read books, we learn from successful people, we put into practice supposedly infallible methods, we download applications and, sometimes, we spend more time looking for how to be productive That, really, being.

I have to say that I have found a secret to Improve my productivity: Working on a computer that prevents me from opening more than three tabs at the same time. And – at least to me – it works.

A hardware barrier

If you are reading this it is because you have looked for ways to be more productive and not distract you. I have done it and I have installed everything on my computer, I have configured Ways not to bother the phone And even issues that restrict apps during work hours, but the meat is weak and the finger always tends to go open Bluesky or worse Instagram and Tiktok.

One day it occurred to me that, if the software did not limit me, perhaps the hardware would. I went to the closet and took out of the box (I am one of those who keep the boxes of what he buys) My university laptop: a 2011 MacBook Pro. 16 GB of RAM A double -core i5 at a few 2.4 GHz and 13 inches of screen. Years ago I replaced his hard drive with a SSD and I was surprised to light after so many years.

What did not work was the charger (nothing that does not solve Amazon and some 20 euros), so I configured it and came across the first problem: I was very outdated. Not only could he not update to a new operating system, but browsers such as Edge, Chrome or your own Safari They were insuffically slow.

Nor could I install some applications that I use on a day -to -day basis, such as Notion, because they require a more recent version of the system, so I did with a Firefox Legacy and configured it so that Notion Be the default opening page. You will be wondering why I tell you this, and there I go: when I changed this laptop for a more recent one in 2017, something was already slow and having more than 4-5 tabs in a browser was unfeasible.

Despite the 16 GB of RAM, the processor could not with so much without making the fan a turbine, without heating the chassis and without making the system on pull. Precisely, the reason that forced me to make the leap to Infame Macbook Pro with butterfly keyboardIt is the one that made me come back because I wanted, precisely, that.

I explain: when I work on a website like Xataka, I do it with a lot of open eyelashes to search for sources. I have Telegram installed, YouTube Music, an image editor and Many times I open, almost by inertia, some social network Or youtube if I don’t feel inspired. With issues such as news or reports, having that overestimulation does not bother me because I know it is something that will take me for a while and then I will happen to something else, but the thing changes when I have an analysis or an opinion article.

For this type of texts, the concentration is key. You have to turn your thoughts and structure them in a certain way. You cannot afford to get distracted because you lose your thread, and those distractions do not exist with a laptop from almost 15 years ago. If I have more than three tabs open at the same time, the Mac goes to the idle, so I only have notion, Perplexity (precisely to look for something and have many options in a single tab instead of many sources in many tabs) and YouTube Music.

Web Telegram It is not an option, for example, and as soon as I have four tabs, the processor is already asking for rest.

That technological barrier, almost physicalnot only does it exist because of how the Mac would go if I open more eyelashes: the screen also plays a paper. 13 inches are not bad and many current laptops have that diagonal, but here the resolution is 1280 x 800 pixels. Translation: scarce, much, so much that putting a game is not an option.

Not having a high resolution, putting a split screen is unfeasible, which forces me to have a single screen I am writing, preventing you from having an eye in my text and another in a YouTube video, for example. As I said, it works for me and it is something that I have incorporated into my work routine. My day to day I take it with a larger screen and a much more powerful computer, but when I have an analysis between hands or an opinion text, I turn to the old laptop.

It is not a rose path

You can think that I am romantic working on such an old team (which is not an IBM without trackpad, but it is old, go) and in a certain part yes, but I am also aware of its limitations and that this is not for everyone. I explain: my work allows you to use notion to write or, directly, the web tool, but you may not be able to do it because you need concrete apps that are incompatible with such an old PC.

In terms of security, many browsers no longer offer updates and patches for old systems, which is a risk if you are navigated by certain sites. In my case, as notion and YouTube, it does not worry me, but it is something that you also have to consider. The low screen resolution, although it has the positive point that I have mentioned by preventing dividing the screen, is an obvious lack because you can tire your view (It happens to me when I am more than two hours in this laptop, go).

And as you want concrete apps, turn off and let’s go: they will surely be incompatible. In addition, I already updated the laptop in its day, adding 8 GB of RAM and changing the storage, but now it dusts a laptop with HDD and 4/8 GB of RAM, the experience will be hard, even starting the equipment.

Also, although I speak of “laptop”, I really should say “desktop portable.” The battery has overcome the optimal cycles And I only have a margin for an hour away from a plug. It is definitely not a team to work on a trip.

What has pushed me to put such a strong barrier to be productive is lack of will, to be an Yonqui to open a lot of eyelashes? It may be, but what I know, and I have learned these years working with such an old laptop, is that if something works, even if it is rudimentary and gross, why not take advantage?

It is what allows me to write many texts almost of the pull and, although I have told you a very personal use case -web product that writes analysis and opinion articles -, I think it can help you if, like me, you feel that you need something More than an app that restricts your possibilities. And it is something that can be applied to a computer, but also to a mobile.

Leaving the iPhone 16 on the table during the weekend to use a pixel 1 is something that I have taken the taste and my partner Javier Lacort has already wrote about something similar, but more radical, a few years ago. Decided to use a Nokia 3310 – the new, of course – as Your weekend mobile. The reason was the same as the one who pushed me to use the 2011 MacBook: avoid distractions.

As he wrote, and I think it is the best conclusion for this text: We believe each other, but we are notand less technology, sometimes, it is more.

Images | Xataka

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