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Show HN: I made a Chrome extension that helps battle impulsive procrastination
- redpanda_ua 10y agoI noticed I can visit same websites (twitter, reddit, HN) few times in the span of 5 minutes. And I don't usually even notice that, it's like a habit. To help me break the loop I made this extension. It only has basic functionality right now, and I want to add some form of statistics, and maybe more in depth personalization tools. Apart from that, I also plan to port it at least to Firefox, but may look into Edge and Opera. Would love your feedback, thanks!
- learned 10y agoI really like the simplicity of this. I find myself doing the same thing sometimes, e.g. opening HN almost unconsciously and then closing the tab immediately. Who knows, this might help break the habit! Edit: (A simple suggestion that comes down to personal taste) It would be cool if I could see if I have DistractOff set to 'Stop' by just looking at the icon (in a similar fashion to how adblock shows the status via its icon) so I don't have to click into the plugin to see if it's on. But like I said, that comes down to personal taste.
- redpanda_ua 10y agoThanks for the feedback. Great idea, wrote it down.
- msane 10y agoThis is nice. Better than /etc/hosts which I've used for this for a long time. Switching over to this.
- delecti 10y ago> I noticed I can visit same websites (twitter, reddit, HN) few times in the span of 5 minutes And then there are those times when you load a website, see that there's nothing new/interesting on the front page, close that tab, open a new tab, and then reopen the same site. That always lets me know that I'm really far down the rabbit hole of procrastination.
- kubami 10y agoI have been using StayFocusd [0] It has a time limit. And various other settings to stop you from, for example, disabling the extension. [0] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankej...
- tkazec 10y agoFYI Opera and related browsers may "just work".
- redpanda_ua 10y agoAh yes, they all use same engine as Chrome, yes? Thanks for the heads up!
- nerfhammer 10y agoI might find it useful if I could block myself from checking those sites more often than x minutes each, rather than blocking them off entirely on a set schedule.
- johnp_ 10y agoYou might like LeechBlock: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/leechblock/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/leechblock/ I really like it, I just haven't come around to configuring it yet...
- didsomeonesay 10y agoLooking forward to the Firefox version! I have used LeechBlock before, but this looks better adapted to my needs (break the loop, as you described it). Another simple thing that helped me, is to clear those distraction pages out of browser history to stop autocomplete, so e.g. this no longer works: <ctrl-l>n<enter> to go to HN I have to think a little bit more typing out the whole address and that already helps (and when I do I am at least conciously having a break and not just reflexively...).
- kj01a 10y agoI've tried things like this before, and for me if there is an easy way for me to change the settings or turn off the application, I'm just going to do that and go back to procrastinating. So, I'd like to throw in and say some kind of function that locks settings for some set amount of time would be helpful.
- mrks_ 10y agoI've started using this extension, and so far it's great. A few suggestions: * As you said - statistics. I'd like to know how many times I've tried accessing a site, and if I went through with it * More scheduling options (by the day, disjoint periods) * Safari extension Thanks for making this!
- ryanbertrand 10y agoI have been using the Go Fucking Work extension for the past few months. It works well. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/go-fucking-work/hibmkkpfegfiinilnlabbfnjcopdiiig?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/go-fucking-work/hi...
- Solinoid 10y agoSimilar addon for Firefox: Leechblock. It lets you make collections of URLs and rules on how often you can visit them within x minutes, then it either blocks them completely or institutes a delay. I've found it helpful as I can easily whittle away my time aimlessly wandering the web (especially so with neverending pages). https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/leechblock/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/leechblock/
- 40acres 10y agoIf you were truly a procrastinator you would've posted this tomorrow morning.
- davidrusu 10y agoThere's a few of these plugins. What I actually want is a plugin that makes the time wasting sites unbearably slow. This way if I need to check something on one of these sites, I can do so without disabling the plugin. Maybe you can do something with increasing latency the longer you stay on the site.
- pkinsky 10y agoThere's an extension called Delayed Gratification that just introduces a 30-second delay for the initial loading of sites for which it is enabled.
- Klathmon 10y agoI tried this once, and funnily enough it worked for a bit, but I ended up pulling out my phone while waiting for a site to load one day, and then laughed at the irony of what was happening.
- wingerlang 10y agoIn the screenshots of this plugin there is a "this is important" button that seems to let you into the site without disabling it.
- misnome 10y agoLet me guess: You had some important work to do and this was the result?
- sattoshi 10y agoHe procrastinated for us
- redpanda_ua 10y agoMy Thesis project needs to be started ASAP. But this was fun learning experience.
- dvcrn 10y agoI am using little snitch with a "No Distractions" profile, then use OSX's portable hotspot to connect to phone to have the same rules. Gets rid of everything, including push notifications when set up right.
- sotojuan 10y agoThe best of this kind of apps I've found is Focus for Mac[1]. It works at the OS level, allows you to block apps and sites, and doesn't get disabled if you restart the computer. A downside is that it's not free. [1] https://heyfocus.com/ https://heyfocus.com/
- kohanz 10y agoSelf Control does this on Mac and is free. https://selfcontrolapp.com https://selfcontrolapp.com
- hanniabu 10y agoI also have the extension page blocked so I can't edit or disable the extension. Only thing is I wish it was available on mobile
- jbverschoor 10y agoBought that one, but it's seriously slow and somehow fucks up my network stack.
- sotojuan 10y agoHuh, weird. It works perfectly for me. Have you tried contacting the developer?
- Keyframe 10y agoThanks! This will help, i'm sure. Added HN first. See you guys less often!
- aarreedd 10y agoI have been thinking about making an extension that shows you how long you've wasted today. Whenever you visit a time-wasting site there would be banner ticking away.
- ljoshua 10y agoIt's not exactly the same thing, but Rescue Time is awesome for this (especially when you get the reports about your wasted time).
- redpanda_ua 10y agoStatistics are actually a planned feature. I decided to ship before I made it. It's going to happen at some point :P
- Lxr 10y agoIs there a tool like this for Android?
- redpanda_ua 10y agoI would love to make one like that. But idk how to make it work on the system level. Would I need root access?
- pavanlimo 10y agoI like how it's just enough obtrusive. Not too much, not too little. And quite easy to add sites to the list.
- pavanlimo 10y agoUpdate: I've been using this for a couple of days now. It has proved quite useful. For all those who keep swaying to google news or hackernews instead of doing work, this may save your time a bit.
- parennoob 10y agoWhy does this extension (and similar ones I have used in the past) require permissions to "View and Change data on all websites you visit"? That's mildly concerning at least, and "No way I'm installing this" at best.
- douche 10y agoI suspect that just being able to modify the DOM would require that permission.
- redpanda_ua 10y agoAlready replied to a similar question: > I need to read all websites you visit, to check them against your blocked list. I do not save any data outside of local storage on chrome. In fact I am pro-privacy, so I opted out of using chrome.sync, to sync the data between Chromes on different devices. Because it's 3rd party cloud. > Since I made this extension open-source, you can check if my claims are true here: [link redacted] > (Sorry for messy code, 1st time real JS development for me, refactoring and documenting is on it's way.)
- acomar 10y agoMaybe this is the wrong thread for this comment, but I'm wondering if I'm alone in this. Anyone else find they procrastinate for reasons another than a habitual need to check e.g. reddit/HN? I find for myself, it's very rarely that I'm procrastinating without any reason, but instead that I'm actively avoiding whatever it is I think I should be doing for any number of reasons. The list includes: * I don't have a clear handle on what I should be doing * I don't understand how to do whatever it is I should be doing * I'm tired/fried and not able to think clearly * There are way too many different things vying for my attention (too many things I should be doing) And probably more that I'm not recalling at this moment. So this extension, at least for me, would be solving the wrong problem and sometimes even making it worse. Anyone have strategies for tackling/mitigating these problems?
- ianlevesque 10y ago1. Sleep (if possible). 2. Make a to do list for the project, stream of consciousness style - then put it in order after everything you can think of is already on the page/editor. Breaking it down helps more than you'd think, try it.
- hyperbovine 10y agoYou forgot the #1 reason: * I don't want to do what it is I should be doing. :)
- acomar 10y agoI've gotten much better about that one and making a call about whether it really needs to happen or if it's just not happening. Takes a lot of the pressure off when I'm making an explicit choice. But you're right, that used to be #1 by a huge margin for me.
- supersan 10y agoMy main reason for procrastination is that I'm mostly undecided on what to do next. This looks urgent but this is more important trap. So far I've solved it by planning things in an excel sheet with all the work I have to do as atomic tasks with the next column I can mark as (pending, done, defer, much later) using which the excel sheet automatically sorts my tasks.
- supersan 10y agoGenuine question to the people who use these extensions. Do you get some significant result from using it or is it more about good in theory only? My personal experience is more on the lines of yes, good idea but then I'm back to my same old patterns again in 2-3 days. The longest I've used is the dayboard new tab page extn but only to see those 5 to do items on it for months.
- jtcchan 10y agoHey! I made Dayboard :) thanks for using our product!
- partycoder 10y agoStayfocusd is exactly the same concept. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankej... This thing has existed for a while now. The problem is that extensions can be deactivated by just opening a tab in incognito mode, which is one keystroke away and disables all extensions by default. I just block the websites using a hosts file. Finally if you want to be productive try a time tracker app. It will tell you how much time you spent using which application. Another approach is just download all documentation (e.g: Dash/Zeal) and work offline.
- tdkl 10y agoThe main point is breaking/stopping the impulse opening of a certain website. You can enable an extension to launch in incognito mode. You can also block the extensions page in StayFocusd to not disable it. But you can still right click and uninstall it on the top right bar. There's no 100% solution except something running system level and even then someone would just switch machines or load a live USB system.
- drcode 10y agoQuestion to extension devs: When Chrome warns me that an extension can "read all the websites I visit" does that mean it can also send that info to an external server, or just that the sandboxed extension on my local machine can read that data?
- tkazec 10y agoNot the developer, but I've made extensions – there is a sandbox in the form of CSP, but if an external server is included in the policy, there are no restrictions.
- redpanda_ua 10y agoThanks for the question, developer here. I need to read all websites you visit, to check them against your blocked list. I do not save any data outside of local storage on chrome. In fact I am pro-privacy, so I opted out of using chrome.sync, to sync the data between Chromes on different devices. Because it's 3rd party cloud. Since I made this extension open-source, you can check if my claims are true here: https://bitbucket.org/redpandaua/distractoff https://bitbucket.org/redpandaua/distractoff (Sorry for messy code, 1st time real JS development for me, refactoring and documenting is on it's way.)
- qwertyuiop924 10y ago...The problem is, this extension likely wouldn't help me: You'd have to lock me in a room with access to only my work to keep me from procrastinating, and even then there'd be a lot of staring into space.
- LeoNatan25 10y agoHey! A very cool idea! Any chance you'd build one for Safari as well?
- redpanda_ua 10y agoI'll look into porting it over. Thanks!
- evanrelf 10y agoDoesn't work with [Feedly](feedly.com).
- tkazec 10y agoGreat concept! These days I just block sites in my hosts file, but I also developed a Chrome extension based on the concept of "regulated distraction", Morphine: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/morphine/fbnpehpbojenlldmfcopeajkichnnjpo https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/morphine/fbnpehpbo... Also open source on GitHub: https://github.com/tkazec/morphine https://github.com/tkazec/morphine
- redpanda_ua 10y agoThis is very cool idea! Does your balance shrink in time, so you can "teach" yourself to spend less and less time on the distracting stuff rather than working?
- gregmac 10y agoI've been using Momentum[1] for Chrome for the past few months. Turn off the quote and other distractions (unless you're into that), and basically it's a nice-looking TODO list you see every time you open a new tab. I just use this for my day-to-day stuff, and try not to keep anything there for more than a week or so (basically: if it's there that long, it's not getting done). I really love adding small things that I can get done in 5-10 minutes, and I just don't use it for things that take days. When I'm waiting for something to finish, or am between tasks with a meeting that's going to interrupt me if I really get into something, it's great to pick up something fast that I've already thought about a bit and can just get done. It hasn't eliminated my being distracted, but because it shows up when I press Ctrl+t it often catches my attention and I do something from my list instead of going to HN or twitter or something. [1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/momentum/laookkfknpbbblfpciffpaejjkokdgca?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/momentum/laookkfkn...
- mattkrisiloff 10y agoThis is cool! I like that it's lighter weight to change settings than w/ Self Control (which I'm also a fan of). It'd be cool if there was a setting that stopped letting you visit a site after you've been there X times per day or spent X hours browsing it.
- sytringy05 10y agothe irony of seeing this top on Hacker News is delicious
- A-F1V3 10y agoRight! From the description: "Ever had those moments when you just open a new tab of your favorite social media site over and over again?" Literally how I just ended up finding this link...
- redpanda_ua 10y agoYou could say I planned it that way to show it to core audience. Or you could say I am just a reader of HN and decided to show it here :P
- Zyst 10y agoAs an (existing) alternative of sorts I use Toggl[1] I used it because the application I used for Pomodoros was a Chrome App, and those are dying soon. It has an option to "Remind you to track your time"[2]. Anyway, at least seeing the alarm usually gives me enough guilt that I end up going back to work. [1] https://toggl.com/ https://toggl.com/ [2] https://puu.sh/rLAvu/463eb95d09.png https://puu.sh/rLAvu/463eb95d09.png
- nprz 10y agoVery cool! One addition I think would be cool and not very hard to implement would be a timer to see how long you've been working for.
- snoonan 10y agoDebilitating procrastination can actually be issues with conscious control of attention/executive functions (ADHD being one of the main presentations of this). The other side of this is strong tendency to hyperfocus, whether on the right things or wrong things. Both occur without choice and are just different sides of the attention/behavior control problem. Some developers don't notice this tendency because their default attention (not actual choice) just being drawn to productive activities like coding and liking it as well. But when that doesn't happen and you can't pull out of the procrastination loop, it can be very confusion and unpleasant experience.
- intruder 10y agoCool extension but doesn't seem to work sometimes? I added HN and sometimes it's blocked sometimes it's not. What gives?
- ilostmykeys 10y agoMeditation?
- fak3r 10y agoMeh, I'll install it later.
- dingo_bat 10y agoI recall reading somewhere that Chrome apps would be discontinued on Windows and Linux. If so, would stuff like this also go away? Or does this count as an extension? PS: news link http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/chrome-apps-to-be-discontinued-on-windows-linux-and-mac-quick-unlock-unveiled-for-chrome-os-875496 http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/chrome-apps-to-be-disconti...
- aarohmankad 10y agoThis is a Chrome Extension. Chrome Apps are the apps that show up when you press the "Apps" button in your bookmark bar.
- akhilcacharya 10y agoIs this like StayFocusd?
- tvural 10y agoFor coding specifically, I find that I procrastinate much less when I'm debugging. Having the compiler give me bite-sized, well-defined tasks to complete can be very good for morale. So I try to avoid writing code for more than an hour or so without testing some part of it.
- praveer13 10y agoMy favorite tool to use while working is Block and focus - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/block-focus/dcpbedhdekgkhigjgmlcbmcjoeaebbfm https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/block-focus/dcpbed... It allows you to set a pomodoro timer and block websites at the same time.
- 0xmohit 10y agoI made a Chrome extension that helps battle impulsive procrastination I'll check it out soon.
- jbverschoor 10y agoLooks nice. although I'd like to be able to add just google finance. It's one of the site I go when I'm stuck, but the domain is google.com/finance. So wildcards or regular expressions would be nice. (wildcards are probably easier to maintain)
- redpanda_ua 10y agoWildcards! Yes you're right, would be extremely useful. Will look into it!
- jbverschoor 10y agoIf I temporary disable it for a site (hackernews), it doesn't reenable automaticallu
- redpanda_ua 10y agoIt allows it till last tab with that domain is closed. Upon that it should stop allowing it.
- t3ra 10y agoI have been using LeechBlock for this (it works on Firefox)