Categories: addiction | firefox | internet | productivity | web
I got an interesting text message last night from a friend. He said "I use the internet the way some people use weed – I use it to avoid feeling things I don't want to feel."
He's not alone. There are infinite ways for us humans to avoid being uncomfortable emotionally – really this is at the root of all compulsive behaviours and addictions, whether drugs or sex or cookies or video games or internet surfing. There are gross manifestations (like those I just mentioned) and then there are a bazillion subtle ones too.
I engage in a number of such behaviours. One of the more glaring ones is to avoid focusing on a single task at hand, by compulsively distracting myself with the empty calories available on the world wide web. The possibilities are endless, but at the same time, there are a few grooves that I slide into most regularly – the well-trodden paths of Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. (Though I also really like to look at the weather, for some reason.)
I have often idly thought to myself "I wish there was a way I could block myself from those sites". I would hate to have an employer that did that, but I might just get a lot more done. I have tried quitting Facebook... I have tried logging out of Facebook... I have tried making strict rules with myself around access. None of those solutions has really done the trick.
Today I got a little smarter, and found myself a Firefox extension called BlockSite. Perfect! Now I can blacklist my most common distractions temporarily. Obviously it's not hard to go around this... but I find that often it's just that one extra step that is enough to make you wake up and decide not to indulge in your unconsciousness. This time, at least...
I too fall prey to the distracting wonder of the webernet
Wed, 2008-03-26 18:05 — skwirl (not verified)Wow, and I thought it was just me. I find myself constantly giving in to social networking sites, or favorite blogs, or the news instead of working on the tasks at hand. I can't get enough! Netvibes has become my drug of choice. It's a portal to distraction - crack for geeks.
Thanks for the info on BlockSite. Has it been working for you? Noticed a change in your work performance?
Ok, enough distraction, back to the wireframes.
sigh...
Tue, 2008-04-15 07:57 — bliss (not verified)it would never work for me. i'm supposed to be working right this minute but i had to go to bizrate.com to look for a glass teapot. that led to looking for something else (info/ideas on the vibration issue) and that's how i got here. :-)
let us know if it works
Mon, 2008-04-28 12:56 — hgm (not verified)I have bouts of this too and find the weather ridiculously fascinating sometimes...
Would love to hear an update in a bit on if this is works longer term. I tried those force you to take a break and stretch apps for a while but found that after a week or two I'd get annoyed and turn them off so I could go back to my unhealthy marathon work sessions. Wondering if the same applies here.
blocking & tracking web surfing
Sun, 2008-06-29 17:59 — Maarten (not verified)I do roughly the same thing by replacing the /etc/hosts file with one that keeps my machine from connecting to the sites I want to avoid. That keeps me from just starting up a different browser; it can also block IM traffic, email access, etc. I have two command line commands set up to swap between the regular version and the "no procrastination" version. This'll work on the Mac, on Windows, and on Linux.
Related but different, RescueTime is a lovely way to track where you're spending your time during the day & set up a bit of competition with yourself.
online distractions and weather watching
Sat, 2008-07-12 08:36 — emily* (not verified)wow, so good to hear you say this and everyone else's comments... I had never thought of trying to actually block myself from these sites, like you say, I'd hate an employer to do this to me. But if I were my boss, no wait, I AM my (own) boss, I would not be impressed by my productivity some days. E.g. How did I get here? Well, I'm working on a website for a Yoga company and was looking on Flickr for photos to do with yoga. I found your Yoga for Geeks photos, which I was totally curioius about so I went to your profile and then found my way here.
I also like to watch the weather, but in a different way to what you're suggesting I think: on the BBC weather website they have a gallery of photos submitted by people from around the UK and its absolutely fascinating!