Personally I watch some tv-series, presently it's family guy. I got 1 window that takes up 60%of the screen with icefilms-familyguy, and the rest is the screen is the skritter study window.

I tried to be even more efficient by watching a chinese tv series on the same time, but that made me mess up the writing, since my simple brain confused the words I heard in the series with what I was supposed to write.

How about you?

Do we got any 100% focused skritter-only people?

I used to just listen to music while Skrittering on the computer. Recently I've been lying in bed before getting up in the morning while Skrittering, or riding in vehicles and planes while Skrittering. Sometimes I pretend to listen to people complaining while I Skritter. (Not intentionally.)

old but still relevant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGzKPwiX7s0

I've found that I get the most done and the best results when I only Skritter. However, I try to get my queue down to 0 every day, and as my Chinese studies progress that is taking longer and longer. Lately, I've been listening to Colbert and John Stewart, sometimes music, etc. I listened to an audiobook once. Just something to take away from the repetitiveness if you're skrittering for an hour+.

I tend to watch a movie or two on PPS (English movies unfortunatly) while Skrittering. Although not 100% focused, I find this helps me Skritter for longer, and battle through any large number of reviews I may have. If I don't feel like a movie, then I listen to music on QQ Yinyue. :-)

I've tried watching a movie, but it usually distracts me too much. The I do find listening to upbeat music lets me power through longer sessions.

Yes, upbeat music keeps my pace and mood up and makes me amazing as I Skritter :) That, and NPR.

I think it's best to do it with no distractions, close all programs and no music.

I skritter with my computer with my right hand and skritter on my android with my left....... :) Just joking, I focus 100% or shop with my second half. (shoe shopping for 1 hour becomes standable)

Podcast's. I'm enjoying [イヤーマイッタマイッタ] and [ヒデラジ] podcast's. A little humor, a little gaming. Sometimes I'll listen to music, but I try to make sure it's either instrumental, Japanese, or some other language that's not English. If it's Japanese, I feel I can immerse myself. If it's something I can't understand, then I can relax and study. If there's English, I'll get too distracted.

I just skritter though I wish it were some cool online game where I blast pandas and spaceships by writing characters.

I think educational research is quite clear on the fact that multitasking is going to serious dull the effectiveness of skrittering sessions. If I have trouble motivating myself, I'll take frequent breaks to do something relaxing yet useful, like reading manga or watching movies in Chinese, but sometimes I'll just watch the news or watch a movie in English. A good formula for me is 6 minutes studying and 2 minutes of distraction, but if I'm reading in Chinese, I don't worry too much about the ratio.

Nothing else open for me. As Chris noted multitasking is no good for studying.

I generally do an hour + of Skritter a day. I might take a break after 30 minutes, but then I get back to it. I find that I can clear a lot more by staying in the zone.

Seth Roberts, an experimental psychologist with a popular blog, keeps writing about how he finds studying (on Skritter or Anki or whatever) to be intolerably boring sitting down, but enjoyable without limit while walking. He Skritters on a treadmill and is up to 40 minutes a day. So for him, there's something about walking which changes the nature of certain activities.

I haven't tried Skrittering on my treadmill desk yet, but it helps me focus when I get tired.

I can't imagine Skittering on a treadmill. Maybe if you're only walking 4mph or less it might be possible. It's hard to imagine writing something in English, much less a foreign language, while walking. @_@

I also find that listening to upbeat music helps motivate me while skrittering. I don't consider it multi-tasking since my main focus is still on Skritter. Half the time I don't even notice what song I'm listening to, but I definitely notice if there's no song at all.

Hmmm.. I should try some of that upbeat music you guys are listening to. I tend to listen to slow instrumental music, which is more 'downbeat'? Like this guy, relaxing music for studying, it seems...
http://u.youku.com/user_show/id_UMzE2NzAxMDE2.html

But then a song like this one turns up and my mind starts wandering http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjI0ODM4ODA0.html
The music and hanzi start to hypnotize me and half an hour later I check my progress to see it's at 44 seconds on the day.

Self-fulfilling prophecy!

In the end studying while multitasking just doesn't work for me, I'll always tend to focus on the non-study task, so yeah.

@DaXia Family guy + Skritter @.@ That's one I can't imagine succeeding in! I'll probably start writing 哈 all the time

@Stuart,

But the question here is not whether you consider it multitasking, it's how the music affects your learning. When I　used to listen to music, I would definitely find that pausing the music would help me recall items.

Has anyone on here tried skrittering in multiple locations as a means to improve learning. I read an article in the Economist before where they found people who are taught the same things twice in two different locations(different room) substantially out perform those taught the same thing twice in the same room. Apparently the brain also associates things we learn with surroundings. I can still remember listening to songs on the radio as a child and where I was in the car at that time since the radio was audio based I had to use a visual to remember it.

I don't Skritter as often as I should, recently, but because of it, Skritter is my go-to for focus. When I can't concentrate on HW, I set a timer and open up a Skritter tab, and do nothing but that for a while (no music or anything either).

I like the idea of Skrittering while walking! Although I could how writing would be hard while moving, I can see how it would relaxing too.

Typically in the morning while eating some toast; I'll get about 40 minutes of Skritter in during a hour period, mixed with breaks of reading the news, downloading new ChinesePod lessons for the day, etc to keep it from feeling like a chore. At about a month in that routine is proving pretty reasonable to stick to.

I listen to music in foreign languages in languages I don't know. But often I even remove that.

I am currently drinking coffee while Skrittering. Vroom!

I listen to music, typically in Spanish or Portuguese. I would listen to music in Chinese but everything I've heard so far has been godawful with the notable exception of M.C. Hot Dog.

(Hanggai gets honorable mention as they're from Beijing, but they sing in Mongolian.)

Hmm, a treadmill desk, eh? I use a standing desk at home but a treadmill desk seems like more than I could handle. I stand at my desk and often listen to music. I'll usually log 15 minutes on the clock and then treat myself to a distraction for however long before picking back up - sometimes an episode of a TV show (currently watching Breaking Bad and occasionally 非诚勿扰) or a little video gaming or reading. I also sometimes Skritter while working out - I have a weight lifting regime that involves running through half a dozen exercises over the course of 10-15 minutes and then stopping for a little while before doing the second and third sets, so I occasionally break up exercises or sets with 2-5 minutes of Skritter - that definitely keeps me pumped up and I tend to run through a lot of reviews in those short bursts, especially if I've got music running in the background.

For me, whether the music is upbeat or downbeat doesn't really change things - it's more about how much I like it. I could be listening to Iron and Wine or Leonard Cohen or Girl Talk and it wouldn't really change things - as long as I'm not already down for some reason or other, even down music lifts me up as long as I enjoy it.

I guess the questions I am now most curious about given that most people do other things while they are skrittering is do you see it reflected in your retention or progress?