3 ms·
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
by 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 agoI 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 agoYeah, 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 agoI 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 agoI 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 agoPSA: /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
- eloff 6y agoThanks for the tip.