Good call. Like how I used to drag highlight boxes on the desktop when I was thinking of what to do next. I never wanted to select anything, I just liked to do it.

I used to drag windows around in a similar manner... until windows 7 decided two or tree back and forths indicated "minimize everything else".

Me too. I desperately wanted to turn that feature off but never managed to find a way. I can't tell you how many times I was just jiggling a window around (usually the browser, while I thought something through or tried to work out what I was going to do next), and all of a sudden my other windows got minimized.

Before that it used to be holding the shift key for 5 seconds while I paused to think. That was especially infuriating if you didn't notice and ended up with 'sticky keys'.

You can disable it pretty simply: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/disable-aero-shake-...

I've replaced the highlight desktop habit with type in URLs and press enter habit. "n<CR>" to get to HN is definitely one of them. But not to get to HN, but just because I'm in deep thought or making a decision.

While thinking of what to do next?

Was this before the internet?

This could probably fill an entire separate thread but I love this thought. I am only just now remembering that I actually used to sit down at a computer and .. wait for it.. FINISH. I'd do something.. be done. Then I'd go do something else.

The computer has become infinite. Yikes.

I remember something similar, though the real cause of my time on the computer ending was because I was on dialup and that would tie up the phone line. This was back when I was much younger and with my parents, but after my family moved all of our phones off the landline and to cellular, we ended up getting a lot more use out of the computer. After all, the computer only had entertainment purposes if you had a movie or a game, and all our games were the single player sort. So, with the advent of the Internet, there were things to do on the computer to pass the time, like browse webrings and forums or try and fail to learn Esperanto (and RPG Maker 95, which probably contributed a lot to my interest in game development).

Before all that, I spent a lot of time climbing trees and wanting to be an architect and writer (the latter of which I've been pursuing for a while now). My brother and I'd drag planks into trees and we'd build little things we called forts and make up our own currencies (using the tabs on soda cans, for example), we'd play with our family's chickens and cats, and we'd grouse about picking up fallen apples (because it was boring) and so on. Odd to think how little of any of that I'd get away with now -- now I'd suffer some odd looks from folks for climbing a tree that looked especially climbable. Really, the computer was just for Doom and Encarta and writing book reports. That's just rambling though and not all that interesting or indicative of any change other than growing up a bit.

Unfortunately, I was a child back then, so my memory of pre-Internet computer use is probably different than that of someone who was an adult the entire way through. Would be nice to see a bunch of people writing about it - not so much about how computers and the 'net changed things, but what they were like beforehand without concerning themselves too much with the difference between now and then.

To be honest, I'm not quite sure. Perhaps it wasn't to do with "thinking of what to do next", perhaps I just made that up in my memories.

However, I have clear memories of dragging boxes back and forth. They are so clear that I even remember inching the edge of the box closer and closer to the edge of an icon and seeing when it would select it. Also, I remember making the box thinner and thinner until it would either disappear, or you would get a single thick line when the dashed lines on either side were lined up with each other.

The only thing I don't remember is why or when I did it :)

Yes this is definitely what I do too. I also tend to repeatedly tap the paragraph on the trackpad, so that fits well with your nervous habit analogy.

Yep, same. Sites that do things like auto-search highlighted words drive me nuts because of it.

Whoah, I thought I was the only one with this problem. Quora drives me insane because of this type of functionality.

ALA New York Times. Although, I checked right before writing this, and it seems they got rid of it, or at least, they replaced it with a not less annoying, but potentially more profitable full page pop-up that forces you to sign up. I wonder if once singed, they have the auto-search. Can anyone confirm?

I'm a subscriber, and clicking works normally when I just checked. It used to create a lookup of some sort.

I run noscript, solves that problem.

And those sites that have popup ads on certain words - so annoying!

Usually that's because you got some adware on your computer.

Not always; Phoronix, for example, has an ad provider which double-underlines some words in articles, with monetizing links.

Those sites bug me too, as a heavy user of highlighting. It also causes me problems reading editable text, for instance in a text editor. Sometimes I'll accidentally click and drag a selection to a different part of the text without noticing. I usually notice, but if I don't it can cause problems later, especially with text that is code, where it can cause mysterious bugs to show up.

Worse: some like Trello do enter in edit mode.

The latest version of JIRA also enters edit mode. It's made JIRA that much more annoying to use for me.

I don't highlight to read, and JIRA's new behavior irritates me. When I need to copy and paste something, having the box suddenly change to edit mode throws me off.

I highlighted your comment about ten times while I read it. Wow.

Heh, same here!

Thank you for explaining it in this fashion. "Nervous habit" and "spinning a pen" completely capture the feeling and reasoning behing why I select text. I usually rapidly select random chunks of text while making my way through a piece. At some level, I think it may also help me stay focused on the page itself (as I have a tendency to get distracted easily).

I feel that is a vary tech-person oriented habit. A gut feeling tells me the poll results will be very different among non techie folks. I remember my parents getting annoyed with my highlighting when helping them read family emails.

As I read each of the options above, I was thinking similar thoughts. It's kind of a text tracking thing and somewhat habitual.

I might highlight one section of text or paragraph and not another. Sometimes I highlight nothing. But, if it is a lengthy bit of text, I often find myself highlighting swaths of text for some reason.

This only applies to when I'm using a mouse.

I find the trackpad on an Macbook encourages it as well. Something to do with the sensitivity makes it possible.

+1 here. It's just fiddling around. And it makes me really upset when I highlight some text and it's really low contrast (like on these HN discussion threads).

I finally understand why I've been doing this. Thank you.

Although I still think the contrast & place-tracking stuff is part of it, I'm realizing the want-to-fiddle thing is a big factor for me too. One thing is that when I use a trackpad (makes it sort of cumbersome to select text), I find myself idly playing with the two-finger scroll, pushing the page up and down even though I'm reading something in the middle of the screen. I think it's the same impulse.

Each sentence or paragraph is another hurdle to clear. Marking a selection provides the satisfaction of marking that I cleared it (and allows me to avoid rereading too much when resuming after an interruption or break).

I get extra annoyed when something prevents this. For example, a PDF viewer that loses a selection on a shift-click, rather than expanding it. I feel this actually increases the effort of reading, by taking away the easy tracking benefit.

Here's another reason / hybrid of a couple. I noticed when reading this thread, I selected your comment and then scrolled whilst reading. Allows multitasking and faster scanning - I'm reading the text as the page scroll and the highlight makes it easier, whilst getting ready for the next section below.

I love this response. It captures exactly why I select text on a page.

In my mind it's much like when reading a book and idly toying with the corner, or shifting position in your hand.

I do see why it's annoying for someone trying to read the same text over my shoulder, though.

Well put. I called it a "tic" in the other thread; this is much more charitable!

Yes! I sometime highlight, but often just hovering the cursor over the sentences even words around, like I am rolling pen or something, shaking legs or body, when I am thinking.

It's subconscience speed reading that we all learned naturally. If you look up the techniques around speed reading, it's basically what we're doing out of "nervous habit".

I've been doing this for about a year and a half now. I noticed my reading speed increased drastically along with this habit. I haven't done any actual measurements, but the speed difference is especially noticeable when I read from paper, or images of text.

The connection to the page thing makes the most sense to me. I used to do this all the time, but since Apple's magic trackpad, I've lost the habit for the most part.

Me too. Ever since I switched, I no longer do it.

I'm curious to know if you use a mouse or trackpad. I get the same connection with the page by twitching the page with two finger scrolling on my trackpad.

I mostly use a trackpad. I interact with what I'm reading by two finger scrolling and tap-tap-drag highlighting.

Yes. I highlight text more with a mouse and do more scrolling on a trackpad.

Being active with my hands helps me pay attention. Doodling while talking on the phone or listening to a lecture are other examples.

That sounds almost exactly like me too. Glad to see I'm not the only one, I have done this since I first started using computers.

I didn't know there were so many others that did this too. My girlfriend always wonders what the hell I'm doing when I do this.

Agreed. Its like I am filtering what I am reading and making sure I read my selected texts twice, it gets into my head right!!

Definitely a nervous habit for me, too. No particular function attached to it.

This is exactly why I do it.

this. finally I can describe it to people.

its called "stimming". i do it too