Sail the high seas and never see an ad again. Make your time your own.
Seriously. Ditch your streaming providers; ditch cable. Just get Stremio + Torrentio + Real-Debrid. And SmartTubeNext. All the video content you could ever need on your TV can be streamed instantly through these two apps. Every movie; every TV show; all of YouTube. All ad-free. Buy an antenna for local channels/sports and you're set for life.
Learn a language. Ad breaks are long enough for one or two lessons in Duolingo and probably other apps as well.
Oh gosh I've tried Duolingo so many times over the years and never gotten far. I'm impressed with people who keep it up.
For me, the key was finding a regular time during the day when I do the lessons. That's why I recommended you do it during the ad breaks.
Exercises like Duolingo are only half the battle. You need to have some immersion in the language you’re learning. Watch tv and listen to podcasts in the target language, you won’t understand (at first) but your brain will start recognising the sounds and structures.
An ex-coworker of mine recommended Mango Languages, which is supposed to be much better and also if you have a library card, you can usually get a subscription for free through them! The lessons are probably a little longer than 30 seconds, but not too much longer. I'd say a minute tops.
Reached my 1700 day streak today
Send help
The owl has my family
Meditation/mindfulness/breathing exercises
Lol Exuberation
If you're watching something on TV, record it and watch it later instead of when it airs. Even starting it 15 minutes later would probably let you fast forward through many of the ads.
still valid for streaming services--makes good use of the analog hole!
make a grocery shopping list (or any to-do list)
Stretch your legs by raising them straight (still sitting down) and rotate your feet
Stretch your arms up and move your neck, rotate your shoulders
Think what went well today
Lovingly hold the dog and do dog-weighted squats
Install Firefox and unlock origin
Not an option for OP - think they're talking about TV
Mute the ads
Already muted compadre
Better then muting - pause and then fast forward.
It should be just enough time to call your cable provider and cancel. We're not in the 2000's anymore
Offline Chess, Minesweeper, Sudoku etc. on your phone?
Using an RSS reader and catching up on news?
Stretch, focus on muscle groups in your hands or arms or shoulders or neck if you can't get up, back or hips or calfs or ankles if you're standing
Have you ever played on boardgamearena? It's a website where you can join a bunch of board games with people around the world. When it's your turn, you have a certain number of hours or days to make your move (kinda like old timey chess by mail) and then go back to your life. You can be in many games at a time.
Oh that's cool, I'll check it out - thanks!
Lift hand weights. Boardgame apps on your phone. Cat lady or any of the clever games spring to mind.
Can you tell me more about the games you like? I have lots but I'm pretty bored with most of them.
Sure! Can you give me some examples of games you're board with?
What is your experience with board games? I'm very deep in the hobby, so some I enjoy may be too much or too boring for you. Do you have specific mechanics you enjoy or dislike? Are themes important to you?
There are many individual apps for specific games, but there are also a couple of websites where you can play tons of board games online
They should both have nice guides on how to play the games before you get started. I haven't personally used Tabletopia, I just know it is fairly popular. I have used Board Game Arena tons and have even had the subscription at times to support them and allow me to host more games. You can still join premium games, and there are plenty of completely free games. If I remember correctly BGA even has a more passive mode where it notifies you when it is your turn
As for individual games, I'm going to go with Wingspan. It is a birdwatching game. You collect bird cards, gain food for them, add eggs to their nest, etc. It is a super chill, entertaining game that you can easily grab a couple turns during ads
/boardgames
I've been playing Pokemon Emerald Rogue thanks to another user's recommendation in a separate thread. It's Pokemon the Roguelike. It is absolutely perfect in my eyes. With it being turn based you can easily set it down and pick it up. It's ridiculously modernized and customizable as well. Lots of love went into that ROM hack and I can't recommend it enough
Get a little sketch book or tablet. Every time an ad comes on, draw an object (or dog! Or person!) in the room with you. Try to do the whole sketch over a single ad break, focusing on the biggest, most important shapes first. You'll learn to draw very quickly.
If you already know how to draw, draw. Use it or lose it!
Disclaimer: am artist, possibly biased. Doing art for its own sake is fun for me, so it doesn't need to have a 'point.'
I think this is my favourite suggestion. I can draw but like most people have placed my hobbies in the 'oh I need time to sit down and do that' which is rubbish really (I doodled through decades of office work and meetings) so that's certainly something I can do!
I'm also guilty of hoarding little notebooks, moleskins etc that are easy to keep on hand.
Cheers!
Join us: !balatro@lemm.ee
They said during ad breaks. I think OP still wants to watch the show
You can play 1 blind during an ad break. Whether or not they have the self control to is another question
I suppose that goes for most suggestions, including my own. Balatro feels like such a 'one more turn' kind of game I'd have a hard time pausing during a run
Ukulele
If you watch it with an Arr there will never be advertisements but my guess is just play something good like slay the spire that you can quit and come back without losing a lot of progress
gay porn
Do body squats every ad break.
Keep a musical instrument nearby. I have an acoustic guitar an arms length away. That might not work for you due to your lap dog. A harmonica or jaw harp would work better
Drink water and walk around your living room. Stay hydrated and get a little exercise in. I also sometimes play mini crosswords because they can be done in less than a minute. Shoutout to !crossword@lemmy.world.
Watch YT shorts during the ad break. Use a laptop + Firefox + uBlock origin to block the YT ads. If you prefer to use a tablet or a phone, it’s also possible to block the ads.
The shorts are bad, but still better than TV ads, but the good thing is, they can be interrupted as soon as the ad break ends. Watching longer videos is also an option, but there will be uncomfortable interruptions.
Now that you have an alternative video source competing with old school media, you can start to think about which one you actually enjoy more. Maybe you’ll find yourself watching more YT than whatever fake reality BS is on TV.
You could ponder the meaning of life, the universe and everything
Tbh you can play 0h h1 on your phone. A simple level takes 30 some seconds
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