From Consumers to Creators: How Your Monitors Define You

I enjoy experimenting. This is yet another experiment of mine. Not long ago, I visited my parents' house, which is when I got the chance to check in on my brother. Unlike me, my brother doesn’t work in IT; he’s in agriculture. It’s always a bit of a shock to think about how close I was to ending up in a similar situation. I don’t see this as a disadvantage, but rather as offering a different perspective. And my family has always been capable of approaching a problem from various angles.

During our conversation, the topic came up: How are you (IT folks) able to use multiple monitors at once? I only use one monitor, and sometimes that feels too much. This led us to the differences in our lifestyles and work habits, but the thought stuck with me.

Just so you know, I’m writing this article on a single monitor… or more accurately, a MacBook Pro (Amazon). And if you keep reading, you might understand why.

Another inspiration for this article comes from the E-Myth (Amazon) book. Among many other business development ideas, the book outlines a concept. It suggests that within every person (from a business perspective), three personalities are present, and they often work against each other. These are:

• The Technician: Just let me work in peace.
• The Entrepreneur: Oh, I have a new idea. Let’s conquer the world.
• The Manager: These two opposing forces need to be kept in check and synchronized.

The issue arises when one of the three personality types dominates, preventing the other two from flourishing. I didn’t like how the theory seemed to portray technicians negatively. Without technicians, we wouldn’t be able to create anything. However, every process has its inputs and outputs. We can’t be creators if we haven’t first consumed, and we can’t be creators if there’s no one to consume our products.

Based on these thoughts, I began to analyze my own experiences with monitor usage. As I pondered, I realized that I also have multiple personalities trying to emerge and vie for dominance within me. Yet, if they don’t work together, they can cause immense tension.

The Consumer

To be honest, I, too, started with one monitor. But nowadays, when I’m working, I can’t manage without at least three monitors. This wasn’t always the case. This need and ability have developed over the years. I’ve been interested in IT since I was ten years old and have been in the field for over a decade, though I’ve long stopped counting the years.

Of course, when I was a child, one monitor was sufficient. Technology wasn’t as advanced. If I was lucky, I could use Windows 3.5, which worked a bit differently than how we imagine operating systems today. :D Essentially, MS-DOS was the operating system, and it only ran one executable program for the graphical interface. There was no demand for managing multiple monitors back then, especially since this one new window provided a completely different insight into the burgeoning digital world.

My life was much simpler back then. I had a little window through which I could peek into the digital world. Even today, I often return to that window when I watch TV, play games, or seek out interesting content. This includes reading for entertainment.

This is why I refer to the single monitor setup as the consumer, an end-user solution. It gives you a focused view of the digital world, and the goal is to make you a consumer. A consumer of whatever medium they forced you to watch.

The Manager

At this point, you may think we are bound to be stuck at a consumer level. But different live scenarios and workflows emerge in our daily lives. Let me continue with my story.

As the years passed, I successfully made it to university. For years, I had to share computer access, whether at home or with the computers at the dormitory and school. I couldn’t really call these computers my own, especially considering how many times I had to reinstall them because someone watched porn on them… Or installed some game from a floppy disk that contained a virus.

Note: Consumers are the number one victims of cybercrime. See the context? :)

This was the first time I could truly use and customize a computer as I wanted, although this wasn’t entirely true. I installed what was necessary: Office to read various notes, development environments to complete assignments, and, of course, a ton of games because what else would a nerd do in their free time but play until they’re on the verge of a nosebleed?

However, when I wanted to work on a problem, my monitor started to feel cramped. Constantly switching tabs wasn’t very efficient. Luckily, I discovered the wonder of the Windows button and move keys. They allowed me to easily arrange open tabs to the right or left as needed. This way, I could focus on two things at once. But back then, I didn’t have a Full HD monitor, so the contents were quite restricted.

How can you pay attention to multiple things at once? I always get this question. It’s very simple. I don’t focus on multiple things at once. I just keep what I need in front of my eyes. During my university years, this meant having my notes and the development environment open, where I could write my assignments.

But there was a catch. I had a desktop computer. This meant I had to take notes on paper (if I could :) ) and then later transfer them to my computer at home. If I wanted to try something we learned in class, I could only do it from home. It’s hard to carry luggage weighing at least 5 kilograms to classes.

I managed to convince my parents to get me my first laptop. The three-kilogram wonder fitted in my backpack so I could bring it to classes. Its performance wasn’t as good as a desktop, nor was it upgradable, but it was portable. Needless to say, my dad immediately seized the opportunity to claim my old computer and monitor. But I didn’t let that go. I could connect the monitor to this computer, and then I could work on two monitors.

• But why do you need two monitors?
• I run the development environment on the laptop (since it was Full HD), and on the monitor, I can view the notes or the browser when I don’t know something.

Luckily, my dad didn’t have high demands, so we found him a cheap used monitor, allowing me not to give up on my multi-monitor plans. And it worked. When I had a task, I could solve certain things much more efficiently. It was a real productivity upgrade. However, lately, I’ve been thinking that when I didn’t have a specific task, I only paid attention to one monitor. The customer emerged. :)

Gaming, of course, continued to play an essential role in my life. Thus, in my free time, the primary monitor always had some game running. But the second monitor had some chat application open so that my friends could pull me out of the virtual world, and we could go out for a beer and talk. Around this time, various social media platforms started to become popular, but mobile phones were not as “smart” as they are now. So, when I stepped away from the computer, I truly entered a social gathering.

Eventually, however, I found the university’s “challenges” lacking. I learned the hard way that university does not prepare you for life; it tries to hammer outdated knowledge into students lexically. In the business world, those who can’t change fall behind. The knowledge I learn today might not be helpful tomorrow because business needs change. Nothing demonstrated this more than learning Java ME during mobile app development classes, in the era of the iPhone.

Thus, the email client on the second monitor became the main application, where I awaited responses to my job applications. When I received a reply, I conducted interviews or solved assignments on the primary monitor.

So, if you think about it, the two-monitor setup is ideal for research and development, or for those who want to be more socially active. Some might not see it this way, but online streaming is a kind of work, and here, too, it’s helpful to follow events on a second monitor. This is why I would call this setup the manager or research and development division. You manage the interaction of two subjects.

The Technician

But why would anybody want to have more in the 2 screens in front of them? Maybe my first job story will help you understand the need.

Okay, it’s not my first job… but it’s the first one where I could really grow. The company allowed me to work from my own computer. This was beneficial for them too, as it reduced costs, and for me, because I didn’t have to struggle to set up my laptop to be productive again. I could have had a dedicated desktop computer, initially with one monitor. But this way, I was already able to start working on the project with two.

This was a development position. Again, the development environment ran on the primary monitor. The second monitor displayed various company communication tools, chat, project management tools, company documentation, browser, and whatever else was necessary for my actual work. In the beginning, I had to research various resources because I was a new joiner.

I’m a workaholic, you should know this about me. I find it hard to find the boundary between work and personal life, though I’d rather call it social life, as I’ve managed to meet a lot of interesting people throughout my career. However, the second monitor started to become too crowded. Too many corporate and social activities were running on it. That’s why I felt it necessary to get another monitor, to be able to concentrate on research in addition to work and company interactions.

The company provided me with a docking station and another monitor, so alongside my laptop, I could distribute the necessary areas across two other displays. This setting is unimaginable for many people. How can we divide our attention between so many things? I’m not surprised that a colleague once spent half an hour watching what I was doing on my computer before I even noticed he was there.

“I’m sorry to disturb you. I love watching you work. There’s always such ‘nerd porn’ on your computer. It’s simply a joy to watch."

At first, I didn’t understand, but then I stood up from my desk and stepped back to look at my workstation from a distance.

• On one monitor, four different virtual machines connected to different operating systems were running.
• In the middle is the development environment.
• On the third, is the browser, where I monitored the changes happening in the virtual machines.

I was working overtime because I could work calmly without being disturbed by chat messages, so those apps weren’t running. The resources were needed elsewhere.

But this seems impossible to oversee… one might think. Yet, it’s entirely logical. I made a change in the code in the middle. I looked to the left and immediately saw from the logs that the change didn’t cause any errors. I looked to the right and immediately saw that the result was exactly what I wanted.

The question is, what’s missing from this list? Where did I search for what I didn’t know? On the right side, among the other browser tabs.

When I was so immersed in work, I felt the need for a fourth monitor, but it wasn’t possible. There weren’t enough ports on the docking station. This is why I don’t understand when a developer claims they can work on one monitor. Sure, you can switch between windows. But if I constantly have to switch between subtasks, I forget the process. Which window has XYZ opened? Oh, someone messaged me on Facebook…

I consider the three-monitor setup to be the actual technician setup. The process is input (research) -> work -> result. Of course, more monitors or higher resolutions can help a lot with this process. For example, we might monitor the result across multiple monitors because we have multiple outputs. In this setup, we’re not watching multiple monitors but ensuring the process goes through from start to finish.

You may think this is silly and only a nerd can work like this. Well, the following picture is from my brother, at sowing time.

Some monitors show inputs like the level of grains and fertilizer. Some show work, like hectares per hour. Some show the quality of progress and the results of the work. The process is the same, only the tools are different. And trust me, he’s not a nerd. He’s a farmer. :)

The (Creative) Entrepreneur

Life constantly changes; we look for new jobs and new challenges. In this changed situation, if we try to live with this many-monitor setup, we’ll eventually run into trouble. Simply, there aren’t enough genuine applications to justify this setup. Here, two monitors might already be sufficient: one for awaiting potential contacts and the other for expanding our knowledge so we have more opportunities. But what should we do with the third monitor?

Perhaps we could start working on our portfolio and our website or open a video editor or some design program. Thus, once again, we develop a need for a process: work on one monitor, monitor the result on another, and await feedback on the third.

But feedback doesn’t come in the way we’d like. Friends and family members message us. An email arrives, and there is a push notification about a potential job. Another interview, another context switch. This period is difficult. We start diving into various productivity advice and soon begin creating todos and projects for ourselves.

But what’s the problem with that? Where should the to-do list appear? Where should the different projects be tracked? Then, the idea of a fourth monitor formed in us.

There is one monitor for social interactions, one monitor for work, one monitor for checking the results, and one monitor for planning and organizing projects.

But there’s a risk we weren’t paying attention to. We plan the project, start working on it, upload our results to a website or platform, and then wait for feedback via email or some social platform that aims to steal our attention. They glue us to the screen, and we mindlessly scroll until we realize the whole day has passed.

No worries, I’ll start over tomorrow. I’ll open the project monitor. I’ll open the work monitor. I’ll open the result monitor… But was there any outcome from the previous project? Here, we already feel the vicious cycle, right?

If we manage to secure a challenging new assignment, we can escape this vicious cycle. But until then, we remain stuck within these seemingly harmless distractions, which don’t lead to any goals but still make us feel bad regardless.

I would call this the creative entrepreneur’s hell. Ideas need to be noted down (the entrepreneur), broken down into parts (the manager), and executed (the technician). The results must be monitored and adjusted according to their success, but we are stuck on the screen (the consumer).

Creative Celibacy

This is an interesting concept I’m trying out for the first time. The thought is similar to what we can read and learn in Steal Like an Artist (Amazon). A creative corner is needed where we can create. With the difference that, yes… this is digital. A large part of my life happens in the digital world. I can’t afford to recreate everything 2-3 times.

If it’s about website or app development, research, and development, I can use the three monitors. I’m able to adequately engage the technician. But when it comes to publishing, I simply can’t move from one step to the next because the consumer gets stuck in the feedback trap. Fortunately, I can detach and approach the problem from a different angle.

First, knowing how to create and what to create are two completely different things.

• Three monitors may be required to follow the pipeline: input, work, and results. For the technician.
• One monitor is needed so that we can create something, where we can think and work creatively, for example, on a blog post, organize our notes, or create a video script that we can later record. But does this screen necessarily need to be connected to the other monitors? The entrepreneur asks.
• However, what we can achieve through this is to develop a workflow for what previously blocked me. We can move results from one work phase to another, thus creating a pipeline. This doesn’t mean we can input something into the creative pipeline. This could be a completely different mental process, said the manager.
• What about me? I want to play with these new toys, said the consumer. The whole world is made for you. Just wait till the shift ends.

The Current Process

Now, I’m thinking about establishing a new process. Of course, creating my own portfolio is a huge task. And sooner or later, I want to dive into that business where I can help small and medium-sized enterprises develop a security technical mindset. And, of course, improving security awareness among ordinary users is also important to me.

• The first step is producing content and establishing a knowledge base. This is a single-monitor, single-focus setup. The MacBook Pro suits this, but any other laptop would do.
• I solve synchronization with Obsidian Sync. It is simple, quick, and doesn’t necessarily require a Mac environment.
• Once I finish the idea outline, I switch to the Mac Mini, which is intentionally more powerful than my laptop. Here, I have three monitors at my disposal. One for ChatGPT, which helps with translations, research, and creating some raw materials. Another is for the Obsidian note-taking software, where a subfolder is dedicated to my blog. Once I finish the initial refinements, this monitor becomes the place for VSCode. The third monitor displays the local appearance of my blog.
• When I find the local content adequate, I attempt to transfer it to various platforms, e.g., Medium, YouTube, LinkedIn. Plans are in place for Patreon, Twitter, and GitHub Sponsor, but I already sense a problem.

I haven’t mentioned feedback from the results. These platforms have very detailed statistics and communities, which can take a lot of time from me. This may sound harsh, but I purposely try not to pay attention to feedback. It’s not because I don’t want to get feedback from you. On the contrary, I want to learn from you, but I’m not well-known yet to get enough feedback. However, I could wait for possible “likes” by walking up and down. Which takes my mental energy away from content production and other commitments.

If you find this blog post interesting, think about it. How many monitors or screens do you use daily? Who is The Real Person using them? Can you adjust your setup to better suit your needs?