I gave up TV, then qualified for Olympic marathon trials and got my PhD

One thing I've found useful is just to stop and think about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it every hour or so.

Much of the time the answer becomes "browsing the internet because I'm bored" and the conscious act of thinking about it allows corrective action to be taken. Even if I don't want to work, I can at least do something constructive like some chores instead of wasting time.

I've been working on IPTV systems for 10+ years. As a result, I can't sit and watch TV because that's like working. Sometimes months will go by and I haven't watched a single 30 minute TV show.

Unfortunately, my time is not as fungible as I'd like. The time I used to spend watching TV is instead filled with things not much more productive. I simply don't have the physical or mental energy after 8pm to do much more than read a book, the newspaper or random web sites.

One suspects that "giving up random pootling around on the Internet" would be a more modern equivalent for most people, despite TFA being from 2016.

Is this a misplaced article from another century? That someone faxed in...