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He mentions timeboxing. Does anyone know of a good way to do this on ios with certain sites? The built in blocking with downtime is nowhere near granular enoug

by graeme 6y ago

He mentions timeboxing. Does anyone know of a good way to do this on ios with certain sites? The built in blocking with downtime is nowhere near granular enough, and it is rather easy to turn off. Do any third party browsers or apps have schedules for viewing certain sites? Eg on mac I have an app, coldturkey, which blocks certain urls during the workday.

elliekelly 6y ago
It’s not exactly what you’re looking for but you might like FocusMate[1] which sets you up with a (mostly) silent video chat partner to work for an hour and then report back what you’ve accomplished. You won’t want to be the dingus who reports back that you’ve done nothing but screw around for hour. I’ve found it’s helpful in getting me started on something and then once the session is over I’m able to keep going. [1]https://www.focusmate.com/ https://www.focusmate.com/
- Insanity 6y ago
  Does anyone else have experience to me? It sounds odd to me but might work.
eloff 6y ago
I tend to use /etc/hosts to block sites on my desktop, like YouTube or HN. YouTube DNS itself is somehow special because it stays cached for new browser windows. So I further cripple it with ublock origin by disabling JavaScript. I can undo these things easily enough, but it's sufficient that my monkey brain can't just open a tab and go there without my conscious permission ( which disturbingly is how habit forming these sites are for me.) I keep them available on my mobile, but I have an old, slow phone and I never keep it on my desk, I put it out of reach and with notifications on silent. For things like Facebook and Instagram my solution is simply to delete my account and never let that abomination steal precious minutes of my life. I don't miss them at all.
- baby 6y ago
  I do the same, but recently I've tried something else that actually works! I turn the Wi-Fi off on my laptop. It's such a stupid trick, as I can just turn it back on, but it usually is enough of a friction to make me think twice "wait, am I ready to procrastinate?"
  - eloff 6y ago
    Yeah, that's a good one. I need constant internet access for my work though (software engineer) for slack, for testing, for docs, so it wouldn't work for me. Anything that introduces enough friction that you stop and make a conscious decision will do the job.
    - baby 6y ago
      I need this as well but I try to get that stuff offline so that I can stay productive as long as possible without needing to go back online.
- dllthomas 6y ago
  I use a tiling window manager called ratpoison. Much like tmux or screen, there is a single key that says "I am talking to you, WM" and then the next key is looked up in a key map. Something I've done is bind a key that changes my top-level key map to a pared down version that only has meta, a command to tell me the time, access to my music controls, and a way back to my main key map. Of course I can still get to anything on my computer with just a little effort, but the additional friction is sometimes useful for staying on task.
- rement 6y ago
  PSA: /etc/hosts does not work on Firefox unless you turn off the "DNS over HTTPS" setting [0]. Spent a good hour trying to figure out why Firefox was ignoring my /etc/hosts file one day. [0]: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-dns-over-https https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-dns-over-https
  - 6y ago
adav 6y ago
I use NextDNS on my iPhone to block distracting sites (and privacy stuff etc). It's quick enough to disable briefly for a false-positive but annoying enough to stop me mindlessly browsing Hacker News on the toilet all day...
- graeme 6y ago
  Thanks! Is that something you have to configure on a mac/pc? I see no website blocking options on iphone. Edit: nevermind, found it. You configure a custom id on their site, then enter that in the app There aren’t any scheduling features, correct?
  - adav 6y ago
    I haven't spotted scheduling features as yet but it would be a fantastic addition!
chrisco255 6y ago
I recommend the Forest app. It works on both desktop and mobile and allows you to block sites as well as apps and sync your preferences between accounts. I will usually set a 2 hour timer while I need to focus. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/forest-stay-focused/id866450515 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/forest-stay-focused/id86645051... https://www.forestapp.cc/ https://www.forestapp.cc/
- graeme 6y ago
  It still just blocks everything, right? Like, all or nothing, no way to make a calendar appointment or send a message, but keep web blocked.

by graeme 6y ago

elliekelly 6y ago

It’s not exactly what you’re looking for but you might like FocusMate[1] which sets you up with a (mostly) silent video chat partner to work for an hour and then report back what you’ve accomplished. You won’t want to be the dingus who reports back that you’ve done nothing but screw around for hour. I’ve found it’s helpful in getting me started on something and then once the session is over I’m able to keep going. [1]https://www.focusmate.com/ https://www.focusmate.com/

Insanity 6y ago
Does anyone else have experience to me? It sounds odd to me but might work.

eloff 6y ago

I tend to use /etc/hosts to block sites on my desktop, like YouTube or HN. YouTube DNS itself is somehow special because it stays cached for new browser windows. So I further cripple it with ublock origin by disabling JavaScript. I can undo these things easily enough, but it's sufficient that my monkey brain can't just open a tab and go there without my conscious permission ( which disturbingly is how habit forming these sites are for me.) I keep them available on my mobile, but I have an old, slow phone and I never keep it on my desk, I put it out of reach and with notifications on silent. For things like Facebook and Instagram my solution is simply to delete my account and never let that abomination steal precious minutes of my life. I don't miss them at all.

baby 6y ago
I do the same, but recently I've tried something else that actually works! I turn the Wi-Fi off on my laptop. It's such a stupid trick, as I can just turn it back on, but it usually is enough of a friction to make me think twice "wait, am I ready to procrastinate?"
- eloff 6y ago
  Yeah, that's a good one. I need constant internet access for my work though (software engineer) for slack, for testing, for docs, so it wouldn't work for me. Anything that introduces enough friction that you stop and make a conscious decision will do the job.
  - baby 6y ago
    I need this as well but I try to get that stuff offline so that I can stay productive as long as possible without needing to go back online.
dllthomas 6y ago
I use a tiling window manager called ratpoison. Much like tmux or screen, there is a single key that says "I am talking to you, WM" and then the next key is looked up in a key map. Something I've done is bind a key that changes my top-level key map to a pared down version that only has meta, a command to tell me the time, access to my music controls, and a way back to my main key map. Of course I can still get to anything on my computer with just a little effort, but the additional friction is sometimes useful for staying on task.
rement 6y ago
PSA: /etc/hosts does not work on Firefox unless you turn off the "DNS over HTTPS" setting [0]. Spent a good hour trying to figure out why Firefox was ignoring my /etc/hosts file one day. [0]: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-dns-over-https https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-dns-over-https
- 6y ago

adav 6y ago

I use NextDNS on my iPhone to block distracting sites (and privacy stuff etc). It's quick enough to disable briefly for a false-positive but annoying enough to stop me mindlessly browsing Hacker News on the toilet all day...

graeme 6y ago
Thanks! Is that something you have to configure on a mac/pc? I see no website blocking options on iphone. Edit: nevermind, found it. You configure a custom id on their site, then enter that in the app There aren’t any scheduling features, correct?
- adav 6y ago
  I haven't spotted scheduling features as yet but it would be a fantastic addition!

chrisco255 6y ago

I recommend the Forest app. It works on both desktop and mobile and allows you to block sites as well as apps and sync your preferences between accounts. I will usually set a 2 hour timer while I need to focus. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/forest-stay-focused/id866450515 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/forest-stay-focused/id86645051... https://www.forestapp.cc/ https://www.forestapp.cc/

graeme 6y ago
It still just blocks everything, right? Like, all or nothing, no way to make a calendar appointment or send a message, but keep web blocked.