Using Your Laptop In Bed 233
ryanaip writes "The New York Times has an article looking at the social implications of technology in the home. Specifically, the problems a spouse can face when their loved one is working in bed." From the article: "As electronic devices get smaller, people tote their technology around the house more than ever. And as the number of home wireless networks also grows, laptops — along with Treos, BlackBerries and other messaging devices — are migrating into the bedroom and onto the bed. The marital bed has survived his-and-her book lights and the sushi-laden bed tray. Can it also survive computers that tether their owners to the office or make the bed the workplace itself?"
Sorry I'm on the phone (Score:5, Funny)
What's this about technology interfering in relationships? It's the only reason I have one right now cause she lives 3 hours away!
Re:Sorry I'm on the phone (Score:5, Funny)
Because the restraining order says I have to stay 500 feet away from her
Please leave a comment after the beep, and I'll get back to you right away.
Unless you are my probation officer. In that case, forget what I said about "girlfriend". I'm really talking to my sister.
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Do these really have to be 2 seperate people? Open your heart to your sister, snag her heart while she is young, and you will find you have a lover more capable of satisfying you emotionally, mentally, and physically than anybody else can.
Re:Sorry I'm on the phone (Score:5, Funny)
So.. (Score:3, Funny)
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You must be new here.
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Before she went into the army, I would fire up the laptop and work from bed while she snuggled up next to me until she was ready to get up. Pretty much the best working conditions I could imagine and when my day
You're doing it wrong (Score:5, Funny)
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit
This is not rocket science, people.
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Re:You're doing it wrong (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You're doing it wrong (Score:5, Funny)
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Sure you do, it's called child support.
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Other than that, I can't think of anything else.
Re:You're doing it wrong (Score:4, Funny)
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Why Slashdot? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Why Slashdot? (Score:5, Funny)
Except you'd be looking at porn of her, on your laptop, while she makes it in the bed next to you on her laptop.
Re:Why Slashdot? (Score:5, Funny)
Mom: Call your brother for dinner:
Me(IM): Dinnertime
Bro(IM): OK
Mom: Were you going to get your brother?
Me: Already did.
*bro walks in*
Another story, I don't know if it was real -- guy chatting hot and heavy with someone, they phone each other, then she says "Look outside..." His wife, sitting in the car with her laptop and her cell phone.
Other frightening possibilities -- I'm used to working with a manpage ready. So, Laptop+Manual... [wikihow.com]
Ok, enough. Let's apply our creativity to things that won't remove us from the gene pool.
Re:Why Slashdot? (Score:5, Funny)
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If you want equality, use whatis and info.
(Note to mods: This was supposed to be funny.)
Obvious answer (Score:4, Funny)
Marital AIDE? (Score:2)
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Electric blanket?
I sleep in my bed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I sleep in my bed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I sleep in my bed (Score:5, Informative)
"working" (Score:4, Informative)
I don't know if you'd call looking at pr0n "working". Although it's certainly a good excuse if you've got one of those fancy laptop privacy screens with the limited viewing angle... (you know, for airplane travel and such).
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I've always wondered if the viewing angle limitation is somewhat changeable on the fly. Imagine a laptop with not only a brightness cursor, but also a [Privacy] cursor. Watching a movie with some friends: set the laptop on the table with the widest angle. Working on a secret report in an airplane or watching pr0n in bed while you significant other is reading Kant next to you: set it to 'very narrow'... Maybe there's a patent somewhere i
The Title of the article... (Score:4, Funny)
Sweet! Now I can work in bed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sweet! Now I can work in bed (Score:5, Funny)
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You have to set boundries (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:You have to set boundries (Score:5, Funny)
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SB
Re:You have to set boundries (TMI) (Score:2, Funny)
Modded informative? Wow, more like too-much-informative.
Re:You have to set boundries (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You have to set boundries (Score:5, Funny)
Our bedroom is the same way (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You have to set boundries (Score:5, Funny)
Our bedroom is for sleeping, sex, and private time together.
Am I the only person who finds it concerning that thewiz felt that it was necessary to list "sex" and "private time together" separately?
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so is my internet!
Sleep Hygiene (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sleep Hygiene (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sleep Hygiene (Score:5, Insightful)
It's more appropriately referred to as classical conditioning, and it's best spoke of in SR psychology terms. You don't want to pair the bed stimulus with any non-bedroom behavior, or you risk fucking up your sleep. You're right, though, sex is not exempt from this s-r pairing-- you might find yourself becoming aroused when laying down to sleep, even if your wife is not there (and therefore there is no evolutionary reason for you to want to procreate) it is only a conditioned response from the previous pairings of bed and sex.
Now, for the built in protection: you either have sex, or masturbate. It's not as risky as say, watching TV, eating, or doing other non-bedroom behaviors, because unless you have an abnormal sexual appetite, sex/masturbation does not have to be a massive time consumer. There is a definite beginning/ending to sex, as opposed to the other behaviors, so when you're done, you're done. Go to sleep. (note that it's 3:00am just about, and I'm reading slashdot and posting a response. Damn. I know I should have had sex instead.)
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In today's world, that will go down even worse than bringing a laptop to bed.
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Seriously. Why let all that perfectly good water go to waste? Bring some ice and a couple mixers and you've got yourself a party!
multiple beds (Score:2)
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It is not just the bed.. (Score:5, Informative)
Okay, so our time is spent apart from 8pm on, is that a problem? She likes to watch TV and use her computer as well, I like to use mine. We happen to be in separate parts of the house. I can tell you that she does not like when i hit bed much later then her and try to wake her up so we can spend a few really close minutes together
For reference, our 17th anniversary was last week, we got married just after high school.
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She's of the "tolerates it but doesn't want to know about it" school.
Kinky (Score:5, Funny)
Pretty neat, eh? [dailyrama.com] Just imagine projecting a keyboard and screen on your lover's[*] back. You could read Slashdot while drilling for oil! Just make sure you're not using a Sony battery.
[*] No, I didn't say girlfriend. After all, this is Slashdot.
Not if you have a waterbed (Score:5, Interesting)
It's probably better that way, but i'm just amazed how a relatively small amount of water can completely destroy the signal. I haven't tested it in the bath yet - how good is Dell Completecare?
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It's 2.4Ghz, about the same as a microwave, which picked that frequency specifically because water absorbs it so well. I wouldn't be surprised if a much thinner layer of water ate the signal.
"The marital bed" (Score:2, Funny)
Sushi? (Score:5, Funny)
Where was I when people were serving cold rice dressed with vinegar and garnished with raw seafood on a bedside tray?
Yes, yes it can (Score:5, Insightful)
This is just stupid. Really.
Yes, of course it can survive. Most reasonable people in relationships realize that there is a need to separate work from personal.
Therefore, they'll most likely have a separate work area, which could even be part of the living room. Hell, if you've got kids, you probably already have an area of the family room/den set aside for the family computer.
An exception to every rule... (Score:5, Interesting)
Priorities (Score:5, Insightful)
Solving that problem is left as an exercise for the reader. Answers may vary.
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The Core Issue of this: (Score:4, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:It's... complicated (Score:4, Interesting)
In the real world, money has a lot of benefits. It's documented that a lot of marital strains are the result of financial issues. Sure, some of that is the result of a materialistic bent, but what the hell, humans are materialistic. Life is just a lot easier when the answer to "so, where should we eat tonight?" is based on "do we want Italian or Mexican?" rather than "gosh, that new Italian place is pretty expensive". As for working moms, its an almost universally good thing. Staying at home results in psychological pathologies, especially in our modern social structure where women don't congregate in the large social groups they do in more traditional societies. It's a loney, stressful, and largely unrewarding experience for many people, and results in an often contorted relationship between husband and wife.
Seaking from personal experience, I have to say that there is no conflict between modern values and tight family bonds. My parents and my brother and I are all very success-oriented type-A people, and more than a bit materialistic. Even though all of us spend most of our time working, we still have an extremely close bond. Creating that bond doesn't require changing your lifestyle, it just requires committment. When I still lived at home, we ate dinner together most every night. You have to eat dinner anyway, it's not a huge step to do it together. I spent a non-insubstantial amount of time as a kid talking with my dad while helping him with household work like fixing sinks or cleaning gutters. I'd spend a lot of time talking with my mom over breakfast before she left for work, or when I was on vacation, going out with her to lunch on her days off. To this day, even when I work 70 hour weeks, I still know everything my brother does, because I ping him now and then on AIM, or call him during lunch or dinner. All these things don't add up to a whole lot of time, but it doesn't take that much to stay involved in each others' lives.
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Kids these days! Back in my day, we didn't have nytimes.com! We got our news on paper! And you knew when it arrived because you hear it hit the door! Or the bushes! Of course, women and minorities had no place in society but you didn't care because the pigeons! The pigeons! Back in my day, the pigeons believed in family...
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I understand the point and tone of your post, but other than the actual selfishness part I disagree.
Unless you're taking something away from somebody else, the only reason to give it to them is that you want to or it won't cost you anything. This includes your children. You should want to give them a good, comfortable, fulfilling, and educational life, but sacrifice doesn't have to be involved. It's not sacrifice to raise a child, it's a privilege in my book. But that doesn't mean you can't have a career t
creepy... (Score:2)
The heat! (Score:4, Funny)
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My PSP Has Resurrected My gaming Life After Kids (Score:2)
Doesn't apply (Score:2, Funny)
Riskier than smoking in bed (Score:2)
Bedroom devices (Score:2)
The bed seems an ideal place for massaging devices.
...what? Ooooooh. Nevermind.
what's the big deal (Score:4, Insightful)
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Laptops in bed (Score:2, Funny)
Then sex.
hardbounds to paperbacks (Score:2)
No Stop it... (Score:2)
You bring it other things, stresses etc and you will cause problems in those two areas. Bad sleep or bad sex will cause some serious ripples through your life.
So leave the laptop in the other room and just disconnect fror a while.
It's the only way... (Score:4, Funny)
WIFI Equipped Cemitary Next? (Score:3, Funny)
It depends... (Score:3, Funny)
Mmm (Score:2)
She dropped and gave me twenty when I told her I ordered the new 2.4 GHz wireless model...WiFi hotspot has a whole new meaning.
Artificial Intelligence (Score:2)
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too much computer (Score:2)
It might not be a bad thing... (Score:2)
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Good sleep habits (Score:3, Interesting)
forget social implications... (Score:3, Funny)
Posture (Score:3, Informative)
Anyone have tips or recommendations for helping one's back/neck? Do those bed-chair thingies work (the cheap ones, or only the really expensive ones?) I saw one contraption that puts the laptop quite a bit above you angled down; it looked rather awkward.
Now I know... (Score:3, Funny)
I DO!!! (Score:5, Funny)
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