Fidgety people: what do you do while you watch TV?

March 23, 2017 4:16 AM

I like to knit, but currently have a wrist injury which means I have to abstain for a while. Looking for other things to keep my hands and brain occupied while consuming various media.

I have a wandering brain, and find it hard to sit still and focus on one thing at a time. Knitting is great for me because it keeps my hands busy and distracts my mind just enough to focus on the movie I'm watching, podcast I'm listening to, etc. But my physiotherapist has told me to stop for a few weeks, so I'm looking for other options.

Limitations: The injury is set off by repetitive hand motions, so I'm not sure that a different yarn hobby (e.g. crochet) will be possible unless it can be done basically one-handed. I thought about colouring but it requires too much looking down to be much good for TV or movies. Crosswords or sudoku take a little too much brainpower. I'd like to avoid apps, as one of the reasons I took up knitting was I spent too much time on my phone. Bonus points if it's a vaguely creative pastime that feels somehow productive, rather than just mindless fidgeting, but that may be asking too much.

posted by une_heure_pleine to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (31 answers total)

Puzzles?
posted by hazel79 at 4:51 AM on March 23, 2017

I play Tetris side by side with the thing I'm watching.
posted by phunniemee at 4:52 AM on March 23, 2017

I often do light reading.
posted by davcoo at 4:56 AM on March 23, 2017

Best answer: I know a knitter-crocheter-crafty person who lost the use of one hand for a good chunk of time. She used a small plastic loom to knit one-handed.
posted by pepper bird at 4:57 AM on March 23, 2017

Flossing is something I try to remember to do when watching tv, which ticks the 'vaguely productive' box for me.
posted by Gratishades at 4:59 AM on March 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

I vacation shop. I favorite and pinterest my favorite VRBO, airbnb places, and inns, etc. I pin them in the right categories I've made in Pinterest. I find a few must do, must eat places in said area and pin them.
posted by beccaj at 5:06 AM on March 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Manicuring/nail painting
Mending holes/ripped seams/loose buttons on clothing
Dusting
Stretching exercises, or light exercise like squats or crunches
Baking
posted by Polychrome at 5:12 AM on March 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

I look through magazines that have accumulated and mark or tear out pages with ideas I want to save. Kind of along the lines of beccaj's vacation shopping, but for me it is more often food or design. You're just stopping knitting for a few weeks, so you could buy a bunch of knitting magazines and go to town on them.

I hesitate to mention beading, because it's quite an investment for a temporary thing. Plus actual beadwork is probably too much like knitting for your rsi. But I have some beads and I just string them, often with found items like small stones with holes in them. Unless they come out really well, I break them down and string them again.
posted by BibiRose at 5:35 AM on March 23, 2017

Response by poster: Thanks for all suggestions so far, very thought-provoking. Just to head things off at the pass, I would prefer not to involve a second screen, and reading books or newspapers is too much of a distraction from the narrative of what I'm watching and listening to.
posted by une_heure_pleine at 5:49 AM on March 23, 2017

Would holding a pencil bother your hand? I'm a fan of those cheap puzzle books you can get at the grocery store for a dollar. They do the trick for me. Word searches and word fill-ins are my favorite.
posted by backwards compatible at 6:05 AM on March 23, 2017

Best answer: Do you have any pets? Sometimes TV time is when I brush my cats, idly wave a ribbon on a stick or a laser pointer around for them, or clip their claws.

It's also not bad for sewing on buttons, or other random small household chores that build up and can be done wherever.
posted by Stacey at 6:16 AM on March 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

No idea if this would be possible with the injury, but I like to cut pictures out of old books and magazines with an X-Acto knife. It's super soothing. I use them to make collages after, but honestly I'm more into the cutting-out than the actual collaging...
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:18 AM on March 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's also not bad for sewing on buttons

How has this, the best idea, never occurred to me
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:19 AM on March 23, 2017

If coloring won't bother your wrist then I recommend that. It's cheap and as intricate or basic as you want it to be.
posted by pintapicasso at 6:20 AM on March 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

I save up all my TV for ironing clothes and making lunches. I also crochet or do small hobbies, but I've tried yo-yo-ing and juggling (there are one-handed moves) and that's also fun.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:40 AM on March 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Sit on the ground and do stretches.
posted by fingersandtoes at 6:44 AM on March 23, 2017

Rub your boots and shoes with mink oil (or petroleum jelly, or whatever you'd like to use) and then, the next morning, you'll have fancy-pants shoes!
posted by Dressed to Kill at 7:00 AM on March 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sorting dirty laundry and folding clean laundry are my go tos.
posted by asphericalcow at 7:03 AM on March 23, 2017 [7 favorites]

Shuffle cards?
Untangle necklaces or yarn?
Organize your wallet or junk drawer contents?
Listmaking? Birthday gifts, grocery, bucket, etc.
Small LEGO set?
posted by Twicketface at 7:03 AM on March 23, 2017

Not sure if it would be doable with your injury, but I really enjoy origami, and find it much less wrist intensive than knitting/crocheting. Weaving looms also seem to be trendy these days, but I have no idea if that would be any easier on you.
Are there any wrist-helpful exercises you could be doing? I know my mom was using therapy putty at one point to help with carpal tunnel.
posted by gennessee at 7:09 AM on March 23, 2017

Spinning on a drop spindle? Technically it takes two hands, but not much wrist action in one of them (the second hand is doing three or four actions - a flick to get the spindle going, pinching and unpinching the yarn, and then rolling up the yarn on the spindle - still a lot less wrist action than knit or crochet). It doesn't require much thought at all, though there is some staring at the roving.

And then in the end, you get more yarn for when you can knit.

You can also spend the cash on a spinning wheel, but that's a lot down at the beginning. Drop spindles are a lot cheaper.

My husband practices card tricks while watching TV, including some one handed passes.
posted by dinty_moore at 8:08 AM on March 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

My roommate uses TV time to give herself manicures, if that's something you'd be interested in. (I'm a nail biter, so this does not work for me.)
posted by helloimjennsco at 8:17 AM on March 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

I play with putty, build stuff with magnetic balls, mess with kinetic sand, and other fidget toys. It's not productive but it's distracting for my hands.
posted by coldbabyshrimp at 8:20 AM on March 23, 2017

I am fidgety and also like to knit, but sometimes I just like to squish things while I watch tv/movies. You can get all sorts of different squishies/toys (they are trendy right now), but I also just sometimes squish balls of yarn. Don't ask me why, but it is super chill and relaxing but shuts up my fidgets adequately.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 8:37 AM on March 23, 2017

My solution is a dog that likes to cuddle. He gets plenty of foot rubs and back massages for about an hour a night while we watch TV.
posted by tomjoadsghost at 8:42 AM on March 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

These little puzzle toys are great and I think would fit the bill. My husband sat with the Cast Nutcase (level 6) for two nights of television. There is definitely a sense of satisfaction when you figure it out and they offer a distraction but not enough to require undeviating attention. Something else in that category might be a Perplexus maze ball, but that requires a little more eyes-on attention.
posted by LKWorking at 9:55 AM on March 23, 2017

I decorate my bullet journal (setting up spreads for the week/month, or just making random pages look pretty, using colored pencils/washi tape/etc), and do mindless Jane Fonda-style exercises.
posted by Owl of Athena at 10:14 AM on March 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

Bonus points if it's a vaguely creative pastime that feels somehow productive, rather than just mindless fidgeting, but that may be asking too much

I like doing zentangles at work when I want to take a break but not start something distracting.

It's just like doodling with a biro, but following a mandala like pattern -- simpler than colouring, so less distracting. You can do it one-handed, or with soft felt-tips to reduce strain.

I haven't bought any of the kits on the site to be honest -- all you need is a pen and paper (or a stick and a plot of sand!). There are lots of simple videos on youtube -- like this one.

There was a post on metafilter last year about "lego cheese mosaics" that looks like a similar practice in lego.
posted by rollick at 10:57 AM on March 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Seconding ironing, if you can do that one-handed. I was going to suggest sorting through filing / throwing papers away, but that might involve too much looking down. (You could consider using television as radio instead by not looking at it, which would give you more freedom - that's my strategy.)
posted by paduasoy at 2:05 PM on March 23, 2017

This is absolutely ridiculous and my friends affectionately* make fun of me for it, but I like to do these Paint-By-Sticker books while I'm watching TV.

*or so I tell myself
posted by Orlop at 6:34 PM on March 27, 2017

Response by poster: Lots of great ideas here, thanks folks. I got a knitting loom that I can use one-handed, have been doing more mending and baking and stretching, and (not solely because of this issue, I promise) also adopted a cat who loves to be patted.
posted by une_heure_pleine at 10:41 PM on April 23, 2017