When I was taking advertising classes during college, I admit I watched TV commercials pretty intensely–because I was trying to learn about them: what makes a good one, and what makes them dreadful. But once I aced the classes, I was back to my standard TV watching habits: only watching TV commercials at key times, when I was in the mental market to buy something. For example, I might watch department store TV commercials when I was thinking of picking up some new clothes for the season, or maybe a pair of shoes. (Or, God forbid, if I had to go swimsuit shopping.) Or, I might watch a restaurant commercial if I was of a mind to eat out sometime soon. But for the most part, TV commercial time was pretty much just a waste of my time.

Realizing how much time I was wasting zoning out on TV commercials, waiting for my show to come back on, I started to come up with things I could do during TV commercials that would put me in the red zone, so to speak. Here are a few of the ideas of things to do during TV commercials — many of them, using a laptop computer (which are getting pretty cheap these days) with a streaming Internet connection. (My laptop with streaming Internet is the most used item in my house.)

Things to Do During TV Commercials

1. Pay bills online
2. Browse Amazon.com or other store websites to research upcoming purchases
3. Place an order online for stuff you need
4. Review your bank or credit card statements — online or by hand — to confirm accuracy or charges
5. Browse online job sites or career sections of corporate websites to find your next great job
6. Create a free wish list — a kind of shopping list — on Amazon.com
7. List an item for sale on Ebay
8. Write a to-do list for the next day of things you don’t want to forget. (While you’re at it, write a to-do list for the week, and the month. There’s no time like the present, right?)
9. Do a pencil sketch of your favorite anime character — or make up your own 🙂
10. Complete a module on Rosetta Stone (language learning software)
11. Look up a great recipe for cookies (NindoMom.com has some great recipes, including recipes for cookies), then gather the ingredients and follow the directions a few at a time during commercial breaks
12. Watch streaming TV episodes or streaming movies online — and pause once the TV commercials are over until the following commercial break
13. Browse through the help menu of software you own — to teach it to yourself, little by little