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Using Your Laptop In Bed

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?"

19 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Sorry I'm on the phone by saskboy · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't come to the Slashdot right now, because I'm on the phone with my girlfriend. Please leave a comment after the beep, and I'll get back to you right away.

    What's this about technology interfering in relationships? It's the only reason I have one right now cause she lives 3 hours away!

    --
    Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
    1. Re:Sorry I'm on the phone by SP33doh · · Score: 5, Funny

      ExCuSe Me BuT wAhT pArT oF dA sOuTh Do Ya LiVe In?

  2. Why Slashdot? by andrewd18 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why the hell is this being posted on Slashdot? It's not like having spouses angry at us for using the PC in bed is ever gonna affect us. Either we won't get a spouse, or she'll be too busy surfing the 'net on her own laptop to care.

  3. I sleep in my bed by Anonymous+Crowhead · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's all I ever use it for. Sleeping. Oh, and falling asleep. And I guess waking up. And, you know, with the wife. I use my bed for bed-type related activities. No TV, no computer, no phone. Those aren't bed related activities.

    1. Re:I sleep in my bed by human_err · · Score: 5, Funny

      Welcome to /. where using a bed for sleeping is modded insightful! :P

  4. Sweet! Now I can work in bed by ben+there... · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've always wanted to feel what it was like to be a prostitute!

    1. Re:Sweet! Now I can work in bed by Kadin2048 · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's like consulting, only with more sex.

      --
      "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  5. Sleep Hygiene by Skudd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sleep Hygienests will argue that doing anything in the bed, outside of sexual activity or sleeping, is harmful to your sleep habits. It will "pollute" (for lack of a better word) your mind such that you are expecting to do something other than sleep in the bed, which will cause your mind to be stimulated each time you enter the bed in the same manner it was stimulated when you were doing whatever you were doing, be it reading, watching TV, or surfing the Internet.

    1. Re:Sleep Hygiene by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      So why does sex get a free pass? Wouldn't that train you the same way?

      --
      Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    2. Re:Sleep Hygiene by ring-eldest · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sex has some built-in controls, as well as being considered socially as an appropriate bedroom behavior (at least in most cultures). Let's look at this "training" a little more closely:

      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.)

  6. It is not just the bed.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have my main computer in the family room. My wife typically hits bed at 10-11pm, me, about 12-2am. I am using my computer until then. Since I am not in the bed, at least she can sleep and I will not be bothered to "put that computer away".
    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 ;) I try that about once a month and typically get told it is too late and to go back to my computer if I want to some tits and ass. We have modified our typical sex time to a few times a week between 7-8pm during the week (just after dinner but before we go our separate ways) or any convenient time during the weekend depending on where the kids are.

    For reference, our 17th anniversary was last week, we got married just after high school.

  7. Re:You're doing it wrong by dadragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're clearly not a parent. You don't profit from step 2. Step 2 has serious financial obligations for at least the next 18 years!

    --
    God save our Queen, and Heaven bless The Maple Leaf Forever!
  8. An exception to every rule... by Gerocrack · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Add a little Bliss (http://www.gamesforloving.com/), and the laptop becomes a welcome guest in the bed.

  9. Re:You have to set boundries by rmadmin · · Score: 5, Funny

    No gadgets in the bed room? BORING! We have pleanty of battery operated "gadgets" in our bed room. And we both enjoy them quite a bit. >:)

  10. It's... complicated by MikeRT · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Selfishness has become par for the course in American culture. You can have it all! It's all about YOU!!!

    American culture has become a cesspool of me, me, me attitudes. And you know what I see, working in Northern Virginia around a lot of very wealth middle age people who are like this? Nothing but unhappiness! The happiest people I know are the ones who aren't that well off, but have rejected modern values for sacrifice and committment in their families and marriages.

    We will all die someday. When you are on your deathbed, are you going to be happy that you had a great career that forced you to stay away from your wife and kids? How about you, ladies. Are y'all going to look back fondly on the years you had kids, but even though your husbands could support your family, you worked anyway because "feelin fullfilled" meant more to you than being close to your kids as you rasied them? Then you wonder why they don't know their parents and act lost or are embittered to parents whose priorities were all fucked up.

    I have news for you, modern America. The reason you are fucked up and rotting from the inside out is that you have no soul. It is not all about you in the here and now. When you get married, you are responsible to uplift your spouse and take care of them, even if you don't "feel love" toward them right now. When you have kids, they are your priority, not your job and "need to feel fullfilled." That means that you don't work more than you need to to provide and be secure in the future. Drive the damn Scion tC instead of the Lexus if you have to.

  11. I DO!!! by Freaky+Spook · · Score: 5, Funny

    She's called sxcgrrl182, I just paid off her car loan a month ago and she's been too busy driving it she isnt on IRC anymore, I hope she comes online again soon

  12. Our bedroom is the same way by melted · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's why I work and sleep on the couch in the living room.

  13. Re:You're doing it wrong by Agthorr · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you're a parent, it means you forgot step 2.

  14. Re:You have to set boundries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hope for you they aren't powered by Sony Li-ion batteries.