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by ci5er 2991 days ago
Does that work for you? Do you think it works in general? I do get the impulse to click on a link - and you are claiming that having to activate something (like I would do with uMatrix, I suppose?), makes you cognitively pause?

I guess we're all wired differently. That one doesn't seem to be a challenge to me (although, I can assure you that there are other unhealthy things that I wish I could figure out how to stop doing).

3 comments

Adding friction doesn't work for me. But I can just say, "I don't facebook anymore. It's not a thing I do." And I stop. Fine, but there's still an itch that needs scratching. I bounce to instagram, reddit, imgur, news sites, then my favorite bloggers, in that order. There's always something. And as for facebook - I can't quit altogether. I manage a page for a small business, I have to test things for work, I want to promote my blog. So I can't do cold turkey, and I keep coming back. Fuck, I hate it so much.
I do that with politics, so I can't point fingers. I don't know why - it's not like I can change anything...
It doesn't work for me. Editing a file isn't nearly enough friction to dissuade me. Even more advanced blocking programs didn't work for me. Instead of spending time browsing the internet, I spent lots of time figuring out how to circumvent the blocker. No work was done either way.
You sound like me. I'm not really very social (but I like people), so just unscribe works for me. I use LinkedIn as a rolodex.

What did (if a anything) work for you?

I'm still working on it. I fear the only viable solution is going to be to drastically change how I interact with computers and the internet.

There was a period of about a week where my home cable internet was down and I had to pair my phone with my computer in order to work. I don't have an unlimited plan and I was constantly afraid of running out of data, so I didn't go to any website I didn't absolutely have to. The fear of not being able to work when I needed to and getting fired was a good motivator. I immediately reverted to old habits when my internet came back for good.

Briefly, then it gets undone and left undone for a good while.

List making is the best option I've found so far but I still have issues with staying on track. It's the middle of my work day right now and here I am.

I give myself 90 minutes (or more, if I am lucky enough to get into "the zone") and then 30 minutes to farf off. Repeat. I don't often go to the office, so this usually continues for well over the 8 hours of work-time they pay me for.

(I also heavily use lists)