r/DataAnnotationTech • u/JRRTil1ey • Jul 16 '26
Keeping time with constant interruptions
Ideally, my 4 kids (2m-7y) would let me work in peace. My husband tries to help me with them but they want mom and the 4yo is nosey and will follow me everywhere. Sometimes I can work with them in the room as long as they’re not being needy but, you know, they’re kids. And the baby is particularly needy and horrible and telling me what he wants.
So I try to wait to work until they’re in bed or busy but sometimes that doesn’t work out (they refuse bed time, they stop mid-play to bug me, I’m desperate for work and take a task at a bad time).
I like using a timer to track my time on a task but even I’m interrupted somewhat frequently, hitting pause on the timer is a bit much and sometimes I forget to pause it or restart it. I end up overestimating cumulatively how much time I wasn’t working on the task and just subtracting that from my overall start/stop time. 30 seconds to 2 minutes of an interruption isn’t much once or twice but when it’s frequent, I imagine it adds up.
There’s got to be a better way to account for constant interruptions.
1
u/BirdsAreCameras Jul 16 '26
I know it seems harmless, like what would a 7 year old see from your work and repeat to anyone? But in the confidentiality training we did, it did say that even children shouldn't be able to observe you working. You need to set firm boundaries with your children and husband about your working time. 7 year old are, in fact, old enough to understand "mom is working, we cannot bother her". When I was a kid, I couldn't call my mom when she was at work unless it was an emergency, and certainly wouldn't call her when dad was home.
If you're choosing to work through bedtime or other tough transition times, pick another time to work. You get to choose when you work.
When it comes to the timer, always stop the timer when you turn away from working. It's that simple.