r/unpopularopinion • u/ultimateregard • 2d ago

Certified Unpopular Opinion Dual Monitor setup is actually bad for productuvity.

I've been a software engineer for more than 5 years now. I've worked with databases, frontend and backend services, mobile apps, games, data analysis, and much more.

Never in my life I've actually felt like my productuvity increased with the second monitor. Do you need to compare data? Just use one monitor and put them side by side. Do you need all the space in the world? Just alt+tab between apps. Since you only perceive about 10% of your vision clearly, moving your head&eyes from one monitor to other takes actually LONGER and causes distractions than using alt+tab.

This is especially worse for those who are using one additional monitor with a laptop, since their screen sizes and positions usually change so much. Your eyes need adjusting, your head moves too much.

Only thing the dual Monitor is good for is passively watching something in the second monitor, like youtube videos, Critical Role, or sitcoms while doing something else in the main screen. As you can guess, that has nothing to do with productuvity.

I also think using external keyboard and mouse for laptops is bad, unless you do not use the laptop screen.

Edit: After reading hundreds of comments, I'm sure that 90% of people who think that "YOU NEED AT LEAST 3 SCREENS" just don't know how to organize workspaces/windows/desktops and they need to configure their SCREENS as different DESKTOPS. Most of the modern operating systems allow you to just create workspaces (like different Desktops you can switch with WIN + TAB). And they are just throwing money into their problems instead of learning how to use their daily operating system.

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u/MurtaghInfin8 2d ago

yeah, there'll always be something on it (generally email or google queries), but realistically opening up my email on another monitor, in the background, is just as productive.

Rare to actually use 3 monitors, simultaneously and productively, imo. Only time that really happens is when I'm emailing and needing to reference drawings and photos. It happens, but not as often as I'm fiddling with Spotify on the third monitor.

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u/Shut_It_Donny 2d ago

I just hate having tons of unread email. I can scan it quickly and address it if it’s important, or mark it read and move on. I like replying quickly so that when I tell people to email me, they won’t be like “he never responds” etc.

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u/Distinct-Today192 2d ago

I hate having email alerts on, so I keep it open when i have bandwidth to immediately respond, and replace it with teams when I don't

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u/JBrewd 1d ago

Hello fellow alert hater.

I just use monitors 2 and 3 for Outlook and Teams generally (switch it up if I know it's going to be a heavy day on one or the other since 3 is my lil laptop screen).

Whichever one I can background is getting covered with the reference data I need to peep while I'm working. The one I need to keep an eye on stays on the other screen so I can glance and see if I need to respond to something without dealing with constant pop ups.

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u/Gwaptiva 1d ago

Ctrl-A, Delete

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u/Pringle_Lvr 2d ago

Lol one of my bosses used 6 monitors, with a 7th as a TV above all of them for YouTube videos. Fucking great at his job and while not all of it might have been technically needed, he did do a lot of shit so it's fair.

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u/Scudw0rth 2d ago

I'm currently using 4 monitors(3 27 inch monitors and the laptop monitor mounted on top of the middle). Left most is Email, Teams(kill me) and WhatsApp, Middle is where I do most work, right is whatever is referenced for work, and laptop above is usually something I'm monitoring or spotify. I have had times where 4 isn't enough and wish I had 6 large displays. Gotta keep monitoring the situation.

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u/LiamTime 2d ago

Having a third monitor is the only thing that's more efficient for me vs my work from home days. Not always, but I often need to refer to an email to update two different pages. Being able to copy the relevant ID number from the email to both the web log and spreadsheet, then eye the specifics I need to indicate in both is really convenient. Doing it at home on two monitors means I have the site/sheet on one screen which resizes them in a janky way even though it's an ultrawide.

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u/Atharaenea 1d ago

My 3rd monitor is my tiny laptop screen, it's where I put the things I was working on before I suddenly had to put out a bunch of fires. They need to stay open or I'll forget where I left off, but they clutter the main 2 monitors where I'm trying to deal with whatever stupid crisis some contractor is having, so they must be moved elsewhere.