I think part of addiction may simply be being afraid of life and making big decisions so you spend time excessively on small stuff. That said, the internet is addictive, there's a lot of stuff on it
I think part of addiction may simply be being afraid of life and making big decisions so you spend time excessively on small stuff. That said, the internet is addictive, there's a lot of stuff on it
One tool I use to help myself is Get Off Your Phone. It's an Android app comparable to Apple's "Downtime" feature of Screen Time whereby it locks you out of apps of your choosing for a...
One tool I use to help myself is Get Off Your Phone. It's an Android app comparable to Apple's "Downtime" feature of Screen Time whereby it locks you out of apps of your choosing for a predetermined amount of time. It's a little clunky to set up1, but I use it when I'm lying in bed and should be going to sleep and can't resist the compulsion to go on my phone.
1There's a drawer on the left side, but there's no indicator that it's there. Slide out on the left side of the screen to open the drawer and select the apps you want to lock yourself out of.
I don't struggle at all, I gave in completely a long time ago. On a slightly more serious note, the extension StayFocusd, for Chrome, is annoying enough to prevent me from wasting too much time in...
I don't struggle at all, I gave in completely a long time ago.
On a slightly more serious note, the extension StayFocusd, for Chrome, is annoying enough to prevent me from wasting too much time in certain websites. The "Nuclear Option" is very useful for bursts of concentration.
On my iPhone, I've had good results with the apps Forest (which can be synched to a browser extension) and Focus Time.
I used to have the Freedom app, which is a great multi-device blocker, but I canceled my subscription because it doesn't support Linux.
On the desktop, I sometimes use the Gnome Pomodoro (it works without Gnome, and the taskbar icon is useless to me anyway).
Steve Losh's t task manager for the command line takes an extremely minimalistic approach so that you spend more time doing your tasks than managing your task manager (something that can easily happen with more complex tools, such as Taskwarrior and Emacs Org Mode).
OH, and sometimes I just turn off my computer!!!!!
Unfortunately, I cannot turn off my cellphone when I'm going to bed, because I use it to generate the white noise without which I cannot sleep (severe tinnitus). But I use the Forest app to nudge me in the right direction.
Well, some people, like myself, are complete neurotics (also called "Emacs users") and will tinker with every aspect of a piece of software until it's usefulness is completely lost. I'm...
Well, some people, like myself, are complete neurotics (also called "Emacs users") and will tinker with every aspect of a piece of software until it's usefulness is completely lost.
I'm exaggerating, of course, but a simple program without any options at all can be, sometimes, beneficial.
Yes, absolutely. I have two flavors of data addiction: Scrolling - This could be Tildes, Hacker News, Google News, Reddit, FB (back in the day) Media - YouTube, YouTube TV, etc. It's gotten to the...
Yes, absolutely. I have two flavors of data addiction:
Scrolling - This could be Tildes, Hacker News, Google News, Reddit, FB (back in the day)
Media - YouTube, YouTube TV, etc.
It's gotten to the point where I usually combine 1 and 2 at the same time.
For 1, I can only say that taking time off is the key but I have no real answer. Riding my bike is the best thing right now. Also, now I have an old farmhouse to take of, and there is a ton of work on that. It feels so much better to build something. I need to keep working on that.
For 2, I'm terrible. There is always some YT vid paying in the background. It absolutely affects my focus. I don't even want to get into the details here because it's pretty embarrassing. I'd delay doing stuff all day because I kept binging whatever. I recently rediscovered podcasts and this has helped a lot, because I just use my phone with headphones, and I actually learn from the topics. The phone part, and the audio-only aspect allow me to go work outside while still tickling my data stream addiction.
Edit: I should add that the most depressing thing about this is that I used to be a creator of music, photography, etc.. now I just sit at home as a consumer. Chicken/egg problem for sure, but when my internet goes down I often pick up the guitar or just do something. BTW, I took a month off from Tildes, etc... I am actually doing great these days.
I'm definitively guilty of this as well. That said there's many interesting content on internet that are worth your time, but sometimes I just aimlessly browse stuff out of compulsion/boredom,...
I'm definitively guilty of this as well. That said there's many interesting content on internet that are worth your time, but sometimes I just aimlessly browse stuff out of compulsion/boredom, which is not good. I try to take notice of this and stop it when it happens. Having schedules might help too, for example taking 30 minutes in the morning for social media, one hour after lunch, etc. Also setting yourself some concrete goals might help.
Yeah, between my phone habits and my job at a call center, my hands and arms feel like their in a perpetual state of tension, and due to the nature of my job switching from temp agency to the...
Yeah, between my phone habits and my job at a call center, my hands and arms feel like their in a perpetual state of tension, and due to the nature of my job switching from temp agency to the place I was working taking me on full time, I got to figure out how Cobra coverage works if I want to get two of my most useful appendages looked at. Granted, I could stop using my phone as much, and be... Like a productive member of society or something, but that seems like a lot of work tbh, and my phone is right there...
I think part of addiction may simply be being afraid of life and making big decisions so you spend time excessively on small stuff. That said, the internet is addictive, there's a lot of stuff on it
One tool I use to help myself is Get Off Your Phone. It's an Android app comparable to Apple's "Downtime" feature of Screen Time whereby it locks you out of apps of your choosing for a predetermined amount of time. It's a little clunky to set up1, but I use it when I'm lying in bed and should be going to sleep and can't resist the compulsion to go on my phone.
1There's a drawer on the left side, but there's no indicator that it's there. Slide out on the left side of the screen to open the drawer and select the apps you want to lock yourself out of.
I don't struggle at all, I gave in completely a long time ago.
On a slightly more serious note, the extension StayFocusd, for Chrome, is annoying enough to prevent me from wasting too much time in certain websites. The "Nuclear Option" is very useful for bursts of concentration.
On my iPhone, I've had good results with the apps Forest (which can be synched to a browser extension) and Focus Time.
I used to have the Freedom app, which is a great multi-device blocker, but I canceled my subscription because it doesn't support Linux.
On the desktop, I sometimes use the Gnome Pomodoro (it works without Gnome, and the taskbar icon is useless to me anyway).
Steve Losh's t task manager for the command line takes an extremely minimalistic approach so that you spend more time doing your tasks than managing your task manager (something that can easily happen with more complex tools, such as Taskwarrior and Emacs Org Mode).
OH, and sometimes I just turn off my computer!!!!!
Unfortunately, I cannot turn off my cellphone when I'm going to bed, because I use it to generate the white noise without which I cannot sleep (severe tinnitus). But I use the Forest app to nudge me in the right direction.
Well, some people, like myself, are complete neurotics (also called "Emacs users") and will tinker with every aspect of a piece of software until it's usefulness is completely lost.
I'm exaggerating, of course, but a simple program without any options at all can be, sometimes, beneficial.
Yes, absolutely. I have two flavors of data addiction:
Scrolling - This could be Tildes, Hacker News, Google News, Reddit, FB (back in the day)
Media - YouTube, YouTube TV, etc.
It's gotten to the point where I usually combine 1 and 2 at the same time.
For 1, I can only say that taking time off is the key but I have no real answer. Riding my bike is the best thing right now. Also, now I have an old farmhouse to take of, and there is a ton of work on that. It feels so much better to build something. I need to keep working on that.
For 2, I'm terrible. There is always some YT vid paying in the background. It absolutely affects my focus. I don't even want to get into the details here because it's pretty embarrassing. I'd delay doing stuff all day because I kept binging whatever. I recently rediscovered podcasts and this has helped a lot, because I just use my phone with headphones, and I actually learn from the topics. The phone part, and the audio-only aspect allow me to go work outside while still tickling my data stream addiction.
Edit: I should add that the most depressing thing about this is that I used to be a creator of music, photography, etc.. now I just sit at home as a consumer. Chicken/egg problem for sure, but when my internet goes down I often pick up the guitar or just do something. BTW, I took a month off from Tildes, etc... I am actually doing great these days.
I'm definitively guilty of this as well. That said there's many interesting content on internet that are worth your time, but sometimes I just aimlessly browse stuff out of compulsion/boredom, which is not good. I try to take notice of this and stop it when it happens. Having schedules might help too, for example taking 30 minutes in the morning for social media, one hour after lunch, etc. Also setting yourself some concrete goals might help.
Yeah, between my phone habits and my job at a call center, my hands and arms feel like their in a perpetual state of tension, and due to the nature of my job switching from temp agency to the place I was working taking me on full time, I got to figure out how Cobra coverage works if I want to get two of my most useful appendages looked at. Granted, I could stop using my phone as much, and be... Like a productive member of society or something, but that seems like a lot of work tbh, and my phone is right there...