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Conceding Defeat - The Internet is Stronger Than I Am
- robryan 16y agoIt's a tough one, if you did keep to this scheme I think you would miss a lot of stuff that helps you with the productive goals you are trying to achieve. It's not really something you can plan out either, a lot of the really valuable stuff and new ideas that help me both with the programming and business side of my startup I just stumble upon. Limiting yourself would get more work done but there is always the danger on putting your head down and plowing on in one direction only later to realize much better ideas or methods that you didn't know about in a more closed loop. Of course there is a load of middle ground and I guess that's what most of us here try and work towards.
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- gwern 16y agoHow much stronger you'll find in a few days or weeks when you break even this scheme.
- prawn 16y agoReminds me of the final frames of this: http://i.imgur.com/6VBhD.jpg http://i.imgur.com/6VBhD.jpg We won't be ruined by what we hate, but what we love. Or even worse and not even with passion - we will be ruined/placated by things just mundane and addictive enough to keep us transfixed to screens.
- aheilbut 16y agoThat reminds me, I've gotta finish reading Amusing Ourselves to Death.
- nathanmarz 16y agoI find the Pomodoro technique to be great for combating internet procrastination. All you do is take a forced break after some fixed time of working. I do 45 minutes of work followed by 20 minutes of break. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique Since you know you're going to take a break soon, you can't justify slacking off during work time. It's a mental hack that's simple and effective. Posts about the technique pop up on Hacker News from time to time.
- shaddi 16y agoSeconded. I wrote a little python script [1] that I use for this that additionally disables my network adapters during work time. This is going to sound incredibly lazy, but I've found that a good way to keep myself off the internet during break periods (which often leads to extended breaks) is to play a game of Civilization. One turn per break and you'll be so absorbed you won't even think about HN or Reddit. [1] http://sha.ddih.org/2010/09/04/pomodoro-py/ http://sha.ddih.org/2010/09/04/pomodoro-py/ (it's rough but it works for me)
- angrycoder 16y agoYeah. I'm going to call bullshit here. Nobody has ever played ONE turn of civilization.
- nostrademons 16y agoI've done it. I save the game right before I'm about to uncover a barbarian hut, then move onto it. If I don't like what the random number generator gives me, I load the saved game and do it again. Over and over again. See? I've played ONE turn of Civilization, just repeated about 50 times.
- gwern 16y agoI see. So what's worse than not being to play only one turn of Civilization is being able to play only one turn of Civilization.
- da5e 16y agoWhen I'm hanging out on the web I keep a wire book rack with an open book on it right beside my computer. It acts like a third monitor and I find myself reading it as much as I do the other screens.
- DanielBMarkham 16y agoYou gotta love the irony of a guy who laments spending so much time on the internet -- by spending time on the internet blogging about it. (And I'm allowed to pick at lion, because I do the same thing)
- frou_dh 16y agoBlah. This type of zinger (usually directed at 'complaining about complaining about') never works because the target is always clearly framed as a 'meta' point.
- zackattack 16y ago"the target is always clearly framed as a 'meta' point." Can you unpack this statement? What's a 'meta' point? And why is it not an effective zinger?
- duck 16y agoHow do you know he spent anytime on the internet while writing this article?
- wccrawford 16y agoIf you're doing something that's only purpose is to be posted on the internet, it's the same as being on the internet. Even if the cable is unplugged, you're still doing internet things. That's a lot of the problem here. He's trying to stop something too broad. Instead, he should be picking the things he DOES on the internet that are stealing his time. Reading Digg/Reddit/StumbleUpon/Facebook for instance. Limit or quit those things. The internet isn't the problem any more than 'being outside' is the problem for laying on the beach too much.
- JabavuAdams 16y agoLet me know how it's going in 3 months. I find I get excited about new organizational / management techniques, but very few survive the 3 month (never mind 3 week) mark.
- thingsilearned 16y agoExactly. Its way too premature to be taken as advice. I've been limiting and attempting to limit my internet time for years with various techniques, tools and even building several myself. Its still an annoying struggle. The internet has put a giant entertainment box inside every cubicle in the world and people make a lot of money to keep you distracted and entertained :).
- pavs 16y agoI have been reading a decent amount lately. This year I have read 28 books so far (should end up with 30 books) and the last 2 years I have read 50 books in total. http://iampavs.com/books/ http://iampavs.com/books/ I have found that reading books itself is not so difficult, nor is it difficult to find time to read books. The difficult part is to make reading books a _habit_. The same way going to HN and Reddit (or whatever your frequently visited site) is a habit. You unconsciously find yourself refreshing that page even though you very well know nothing new happened within the last 30 seconds. Everyone needs to start at some place and I think instead of forcing yourself in to the habit of reading books, one should ease themselves slowly in to forming a reading habit. Someone mentioned Pomodoro technique and I would recommend that. But I would suggest against taking a mechanical approach in to reading and instead start with small chunk (15 minutes of reading time a day) and slowly built yourself up for longer reading time. If you asked me 2 years ago if I can go through 1 hour of uninterrupted reading I would probably laugh at you. But I now find myself reading 2-3 hours of continuous reading a day without much problem (not everyday though). Getting a kindle helped to get some distraction-less reading experience. Do it. Reading books outside your field is the best thing you can do for yourself.
- elai 16y agoThere's reading, and then there's remembering and using most of it a couple of months later and years later. Otherwise it just becomes another form of newspaper/HN reading and just mostly gives a vague reference memory in the back of your head.
- pavs 16y agoUnless you are savant you are not going to remember most of what you have read couple of months or years later however you are likely to have a vague recollection of the general gist o the book. You are also not going to use most of the things you have read/learned in the book in real life. Unless you are only reading self-help type of books.
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- kranner 16y agoI've been forced into a similar situation for a week now. I moved to a new city for a new job and have no internet connection at home yet (and no TV or radio either). It was painful for the first few days but now I am so much more relaxed and well-rested I am giving serious consideration to continuing this way for a bit. I also seem to be able to concentrate a great deal better than before: tested on a new (to me) Coetzee novel and a math textbook.
- kranner 16y agoUpdate after a week: so that didn't last very long.
- misterbwong 16y agoI've done this in the past and it definitely works....in the beginning. If you want to KEEP your reclaimed time, be very wary of other time sinks. Don't just replace the internet with TV or some other similarly unproductive, brain numbing activity.
- riffraff 16y agoone of my pet projects is a chrome extension that tracks where I spend time in the browser. I was always worried that I may be spending too much time on HN, reddit etc. Now I have hard data, it's bad (about 10% on this news sites, still not tracking dependent time on linked sites) but not as bad as I thought :)
- gintas 16y agoIs the extension available to the public? I'd love to be able to see my own stats.
- dekz 16y agoThere is this https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mokmnbikneoaenmckfmgjgjimphfojkd https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mokmnbikneoaenmc... But it isn't exactly elegant.
- riffraff 16y agomine looks slightly better, but I wanted to add a couple more features (ignore url, delete item from history)before releasing. As soon as I have a bit of time to do it and release it I'll ping whoever wants to know it.
- greyman 16y agoYes I too am interested about that extension.
- riffraff 16y agoI will let you know as soon as I have something decent :)
- known 16y agoInternet will initially promote race to the bottom.
- radioactive21 16y agoI've tried to limit my internet use and I end up wasting it on something even far worst. Television. I really dont go out much, because of location, there is not much to do. So me limiting my internet use amounts to working out and waching TV.......which kinda sounds like prison lol I kinda justify things lately by learning online. For example I take classes online for various things like learning a foreign language, or playing the piano, or learning new technology etc