Quit Screwing Around Online Method 1: Block Time-Wasting Sites Entirely (AKA The Nuclear Option)
STAYFOCUSED FIREFOX FREE
There used to be a whole slew of free time-tracking plugins for Firefox, but it looks like most of them are dead. Time Tracker is a free browser extension for Chrome. It also has some other nifty features like the ability to block distracting websites and create goals for how you want to spend your time online. At the end of each week, RescueTime will send you an email report that gives you a breakdown of how and where you spent your time while sitting ( or standing!) at your computer.
STAYFOCUSED FIREFOX INSTALL
You simply create an account with RescueTime, install the RescueTime program on your computer, and RescueTime takes care of the rest. RescueTime is a paid service that allows you track how much time you spend on certain websites and even how long you use certain apps on your computer. If you want a more thorough audit, you might consider signing up for one of the many online services that show you how you spend your time online. The first step in stopping the scourge of mindless surfing is to make a list of which sites you’re wasting the most time on. First: Perform an Audit of Your Online Time-Wasters Do you really want to use up your willpower trying to stay off of Reddit, when you really need it to work or study effectively? Instead, simply eliminate the decision of whether or not to screw around on the web from your available choices altogether, without taking a sledge hammer to your computer. But as we’ve discussed, your willpower is a finite resource which is depleted by every choice you have to make. You can try to limit your penchant for mindless surfing through sheer willpower alone. So you probably don’t want to chuck your laptop out the window, even if you sometimes feel like you do. So what’s a man to do? Despite its sort of addicting quality, the internet is an amazing tool that most people absolutely do not want to give up. It’s easy to get entranced and lose track of time. Every time you surf to a new page, you pull that lever, and wait to see what pops up. The internet is really like a giant information slot machine. And what is the internet besides a collection of millions of bits of information–hit after dopamine-releasing hit. And most recently, an experiment done with monkeys showed that even a little bit of information stimulates our brains’ reward centers. But then experiments found that not only did money, food, and sex also activate these reward centers, even pictures of these things had the same effect. It used to be thought that the reward centers of our brains only lit up when dealing with basic needs, “primary reinforcers” like food and water…and, of course, those dopamine hard-hitters, drugs. Indeed, there’s a bigger issue at play here. So that may be part of it, although it doesn’t quite explain why when you’re siting on the couch reading a book, your mind feels an itch to check your phone or your computer. “Look, I see a bear!” has become “Look a funny video on Youtube! An interesting article on this news site! A photo of my friend on Facebook….” In the modern age, that sense has been hijacked by the constant stream of incoming stimuli. For our primitive ancestors this ability was a safeguard against dangers and predators. Researchers speculate that evolution has wired our brains to be constantly scanning for changes in our environment if a change is sensed, our minds direct our attention towards that thing. The desire to read Treasure Island and or listen to a radio show exerts a certain pull, but not like the force that keeps you surfing from page to page to page on the internet. Rob’s inner monologue:Īrrrrghhh! What happened? Why Is the Internet So #$!# Distracting!?ĭistractions have existed since the beginning of time, but the internet represents an entirely new level of itch. Wow, this thread has links to a lot of interesting sites, I’m just going to click on a few…ġ2:00 am.
And I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give the front page of Reddit a fast little scan, and then I’ll get back to studying. I wonder if anything has happened on Facebook since I read the article, let me check that real quick. And I love pirates! I’ve got to check that out–I’ll just skim it really fast. Hey, the Art of Manliness put another article up.
Oh, Amanda sent me a Facebook message, let me just get on Facebook really quick and write her back.
I guess it wouldn’t hurt to check my gmail tab before I get back to the book. But I don’t understand this term here on pg.
STAYFOCUSED FIREFOX CRACK
Let me just sit down here and crack open my giant textbook. I’m really going to get crap done tonight.
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