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...