Laptop Slides Into Bed in Love Triangle

The New York Times ^ | August 24, 2006 | By KATIE HAFNER

[aculeus]

LARRY SMITH knows he is treading a fine marital line. Mr. Smith, 37, is the editor of Smith, an online magazine he founded, and he loves to work in bed at all hours — midafternoon, 2 a.m. if insomnia strikes, then again in the morning.

“Sitting there in bed half awake with a cup of coffee is extremely pleasant,” he said.

Yet Mr. Smith is all too aware of his wife’s mounting disapproval of his routine and suspects that a laptop-in-bed ban could be imminent.

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?

Piper Kerman, Mr. Smith’s wife, tries to be understanding about her husband’s need to work constantly, but her tolerance has limits, especially when she thinks about the significance of their bed, their first joint purchase when they started out as a couple 10 years ago.

“Not to get too squishy about it, but you kind of want the bed to be a sacred space,” she said. “The bed is a restorative place in my mind. It’s not a place to work.”

Relationship experts and those who study technology in people’s lives hold divergent views on the topic.

“The most comfortable spot in the world is in bed, and that’s where people start their day and end their day,” said Ken Anderson, an anthropologist and a senior researcher at Intel Research in Beaverton, Ore.

[andy58-in-nh]

Re: "his wife’s mounting disapproval" - perhaps that's why he works in bed.

[JamesP81]

When I leave the office, work stays at the office. Non-negotiable.

[Xenalyte]

Xena's Guy has been known to work from bed.

His company has a month-end process that requires him to "babysit" the servers remotely for several hours, sometimes well into the next day.

Since he doesn't always want to stay up all night, he's set the laptop to beep when the process needs attending to. The beep is enough to waken his light-sleeper self, but you could turn it up to 11 and I'd never hear it.

Still, if this were an every-night thing, I'd probably tell him to go occupy some of the other 2100 square feet while he works.

[Xenalyte]

I'm that way with my day job. (My performance job by definition needs creative time.)

[VRWCmember]

[JamesP81]

(My performance job by definition needs creative time.)

I do some creative type stuff (writing) on the side. Hope to turn that into a job at some point, but that doesn't really qualify as work to me. That's pleasure.

[Xenalyte]

Exactly. What do you write?

[Petronski]

OMG, see #6.   LOL

[AmericaUnited]

Jealous wives buy their husbands Dells...

[VeniVidiVici]

This is too mundane even for the Times.

What, they couldn't find more BS to publish about the Bush administration?

[freedomlover]

IBTHDJ
In before the hard drive jokes

[TChris]

Working in bed is a horrible idea, IMO.

[freedomlover]

That looks like a pretty successful ZOT

[JamesP81]

Exactly. What do you write?

Science fiction. It's extraordinarily difficult. I'm making very slow progress, although people in this writing workshop I'm a member of have described my prose as good storytelling needing some technical work. I find it difficult to find time to write when I've got a full time job, another side project where I'm freelance developing a major software package, church activities, and my martial arts classes (especially tough, since I've been reccommended for my 3rd degree blackbelt. Requires lots of practice to get ready for).

I'm just pulled in far too many directions at once.

[AmericaUnited]

[tamed]

roflmao

[Triggerhippie]

The beep is enough to waken his light-sleeper self, but you could turn it up to 11 and I'd never hear it.

[Xenalyte]

One of my favorite movies EVER.

[Wyatt's Torch]

Spinal Tap Laptop I suppose....