[dredmorbius]

There are a few sides to this.

One is, yes, a lack of imagination.

But too: it's exceedingly difficult to find something that you can devote yourself to given the demands of work. A 9-5, 40-hour week is bad enough, but the norm for many, particularly in the tech world, is 50-60 hours or more. Commute, sleep, and other activities tie up yet more time. If you're following guidelines to stay fit, that's other hour, or several hours per week (though time I consider well spent). Obligations to a partner, children, or elder parents can be extensive. If you're in a high cost-of-living city such as San Francisco, New York, or London, you've got very little space to call your own.

The time and space it takes to cultivate a meaningful alternative activity is difficult to come by.

We're awash with messages from advertising and media which further pollute our heads and distract.

And the work many of us do is itself largely mental -- it requires prolonged exposure and deep understanding, and tends to follow you around. Inspiration is as likely to strike in the shower as at your desk.

Given all of this, you're far more likely to be primed to be in "work mode", to understand a quick query or email, and even quite possibly appreciate its distraction from whatever it is that surrounds you.

I'm not saying this is a good thing at all. I don't believe that for a second. Unless your work is exceptionally gratifying and you're the very rare soul who's doing something actually useful for the world, you're far better off with downtime and the ability to get away from it.

But it does explain much of the psychology behind why the behavior is so appealing, and why creating more compelling alternatives so difficult.

[noir_lord]

My away from computer hobby is cycling, I get to combine staying fit with something I love doing and occasionally ride with a local club which fits the social side as well (coffee,cake and a chat after 60 miles is awesome).

It is hard to find time to do stuff sometimes though.

[dredmorbius]

A good and valuable occupation, though I'd classify it as fitness actvity principally.

I'm referring more to engagement which occupies your mind. My experience, with employment in tech, is that exploring other technically complex issues is difficult -- there's only so much intellectual capacity a person's got. My own interests are the complex set of topics associated with sustainability: ennergy, climate change, human institutions from economics to politics to psychology to education and more.

As simply alternative mode operations, I've long found that some level of wrking with my hand -- physical manipulation though not necessarily hard physical work -- is quite rewarding. Woodwork, refinishing, building or repairing items, etc. Even cookking and household chores can fill this role.

It's a different headspace.

[noir_lord]

Physical work weather it's woodwork or a hill on a bike is a good way to get some distance from problems and think about them, I solve some of my toughest problems by going for a bike ride and deliberately focusing on the bike, view and riding style which I find clears my mind better than any other activity, usually a solution will present itself at that point.