ながら for a sequence of actions? アカウントを変えながら使っています


> アカウントを変えながら使っています。

A native Japanese speaking friend said this in a text, talking about their
social media account. I couldn't figure out what the line meant because ながら's
"while" usage didn't seem to fit. They can't use their account _while_
changing it. Plus, isn't 変える a punctual verb (瞬間動詞)? The "counter to
expectation" meaning explained in [this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/14192/30454) doesn't seem to work
either. "*I changed my account, but I have been using it."

When asked to clarify, they said 「それで使う意味もありますね」. So it becomes a sequence of
actions? How is this ながら different from verbs simply strung together?

> アカウントを変えて使っています




You are not mistaken in thinking that what comes before ながら needs to last for
some period to form a “line”, so to speak, that runs in parallel to the main
timeline, and that a punctual verb like 変える can only represent a “point” and
therefore is not suitable to be used with ながら.

However, アカウントを変えながら使っています is certainly grammatical and natural. This is
because a punctual act gets duration and becomes a “line” when it is repeated
or turned into a habit. In your example, the presence of ながら implies that your
friend is using the SNS repeatedly or habitually switching between multiple
accounts.

This usage of ながら is not much different from that in an example like the
following.

> 学校に行きながら仕事をしています。

Although an individual act of going to the school may take longer than a
single switch of social media accounts, that’s not important here because ながら
doesn’t refer to that period but a much longer period during which going to
the school is a habit.

アカウントを変えて使っています could be describing the same thing, but its focus is on the
fact that you switch accounts when or before you use whatever you do, with no
implication that it is repeated.




You are not mistaken in thinking that what comes before ながら needs to last for
some period to form a “line”, so to speak, that runs in parallel to the main
timeline, and that a punctual verb like 変える can only represent a “point” and
therefore is not suitable to be used with ながら.

However, アカウントを変えながら使っています is certainly grammatical and natural. This is
because a punctual act gets duration and becomes a “line” when it is repeated
or turned into a habit. In your example, the presence of ながら implies that your
friend is using the SNS repeatedly or habitually switching between multiple
accounts.

This usage of ながら is not much different from that in an example like the
following.

> 学校に行きながら仕事をしています。

Although an individual act of going to the school may take longer than a
single switch of social media accounts, that’s not important here because ながら
doesn’t refer to that period but a much longer period during which going to
the school is a habit.

アカウントを変えて使っています could be describing the same thing, but its focus is on the
fact that you switch accounts when or before you use whatever you do, with no
implication that it is repeated.

