[helij]

I understand to a degree but there's always 'but'.

How is typewriter any different than fullscreen text editor? You can have a quiet room with a computer no?

What I'm saying is, if they don't work on themselves, a physical device won't help long term imo. Eventually they will land back on distractions.

[cgriswald]

I don’t think this is true. They might struggle with distractions elsewhere but if they’ve created a ritual out of writing in this distraction free environment they’ve created it will probably always work for them (and maybe better over time). Having the experience of doing things without distraction might also help them ignore distractions elsewhere.

By way of analogy, learning to swim in calm waters helps you learn to swim in rough waters by giving you the experience of what swimming is even like.

[lanstin]

For a long time I blamed myself for things being difficult. But self knowledge surely includes knowledge of how conditions affect your nervous system. Totally plausible a given nervous system works better with a typewriter than any networked device. Even like when you have to take a break from the thinking you will be more productive pacing or taking a walk on the grounds than flipping over to y combinator.

Make it easy to be good isn't just a parenting precept, it works to manage yourself as a mature adult as well.

[notjulianjaynes]

I read an anecdote once that novelist Jonathan Franzen writes on a laptop which has had the WiFi card removed and Ethernet port glued shut. He's pretty successful so whatever works imo.

[deanishe]

Why the quiet room?

Should you not rather train yourself not to be distracted by the noise like you train yourself not to be distracted by notifications?

[navjack27]

As someone who was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of two and have dealt with it my entire life I gotta completely agree with you. The quest for quiet is impossible. You will never have completely stimulus free environments. The way our bodies work competes against this whole idea. If you're in a dark room your eyes adjust. If you are in a quiet room your ears basically have a compressor built in. Everything that was in the shadow or in the quiet will eventually make itself known. Thrive in noise, thrive in distraction, thrive in chaos.

Edit: but one thing that is incredibly important is partitioning your workspace. Perform work where work should be performed and keep that separate from where you automatically do leisure activities or seek out pleasurable distractions.