Turning off the distracting parts of the Internet

http://blog.rescuetime.com/2009/08/19/turning-off-the-distracting-parts-of-the-internet/

by bfioca • 17 years ago

26 13 17 years ago

blog.rescuetime.com

rrival• 17 years ago

Typo - "Their getting good at these tests, and it’s costing us." - "They're"

mshafrir• 17 years ago

While on the subject, "blcoking" in the screen shot.

bfioca2• 17 years ago

Yeah oops - it's just a mockup. :)

jlees• 17 years ago

On a mild tangent I stumbled across a utility that'll let you lock screen for a period of time:

http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2009/05/04/reducing-inter...

I haven't dared install it just yet, but it might be helpful to those of you who - like me - have most of your really distracting stuff running inside screen.

techgirl7• 17 years ago

This looks like a killer feature! I've been using LeechBlock, but this looks to be even better.

Musashi• 17 years ago

Nice idea, but I'd probably switch it off...

sabon• 17 years ago

I've tried a few such solutions. Worked for some time but there was one problem: too many clicks. If I want to use it often (and I do) even 1 click too many kills a feature for me. So if it's going to be easy AND effective - I'll happily use it.

qeek• 17 years ago

There is already a Mac app that does this (and you choose which sites to block)

http://visitsteve.com/work/selfcontrol/

bfioca2• 17 years ago

If you read the post it mentions that apps like self control are imperfect because you have to keep telling it which sites to block. RescueTime has a huge part of the internet already categorized and scored as distracting or not and lets you tune those settings in broad strokes - so if you go to a site you've never even heard of, if it's a distracting site you'll be blocked without having to have entered it.

mbrubeck• 17 years ago

This can be really useful. I've gotten some good mileage out of Stealth Kiwi [1], a Greasemonkey script with a similar goal. But I find it's even better if I can improve my habits to the point where I don't need such a tool.

1. http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/8616

sielskr• 17 years ago

pavs• 17 years ago

I think the killer question is, "Is Hacker News in your blocked sites list?"

ojbyrne• 17 years ago

Personally I've learned to focus without aids. Though I do have one aid - the phrase "A hanging concentrates the mind." Comes up whenever there's a deadline.

There's lots to be said for aimless thought. It's where innovation comes from.

Turning off the distracting parts of the Internet

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