An app that kills the internet time suck

March 9, 2017 5:44 PM

I'm an android user who spends way too much time on metafilter, reddit, Facebook etc. Can you recommend an app to save me from myself?

I'm looking for something ideally that will block me from opening facebook as an app or going to certain sites in my browser (chrome) after I've reached an allotted daily limit of time spent browsing. Or potentially something that will block access at certain times of the day.

I don't really use a laptop much for mindless internet surfing so I'm really looking for solutions that will work on my phone (an android).

posted by geegollygosh to Computers & Internet (14 answers total)

Honestly, get rid of your phone. Do you need it for work? If not, you can't really reliably stop yourself through artificial blockers. It's like me and chocolate cake - I love chocolate cake, and I can't keep it around me.

Even if I had it under lock and key, and even if it annoyed me a bit when I tried to take another slice, I'd ignore any and all safeguards I put in place, eventually. Mostly because I put them in place, and so I know how to get around them, and so I will get around them and eat the cake because I'm weak towards it. So I just don't have chocolate cake at my house, and that removes the temptation.

But also, you know, this depends on you. The above applies more to those with personalities on the addictive side, like my personality.
posted by durandal at 6:05 PM on March 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Getting rid of my phone is not really an option I'm looking at for a bunch of reasons but in any case, it's not really that I want to scorched earth eliminate facebook or reddit from my life.

The block doesn't have to be 100% infallible-- I'd settle for a
kind-of-inconvenient barrier that makes me more thoughtful about the time I'm spending. I feel like opening facebook is basically a reflex at this point.
posted by geegollygosh at 6:20 PM on March 9, 2017

I simply deleted the FB app from my phone. Problem solved. yes, I know it works in the browser, but for whatever reason that isn't nearly as tempting to me as the app.
posted by COD at 6:21 PM on March 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

what if you create a separate user on your phone that has all the time wasting stuff and leave your primary user clean.
posted by noloveforned at 6:57 PM on March 9, 2017

I'm not sure if this works for Andriod but Flipd is great for iPhone. For whatever predetermined time it blocks acces too all apps that weren't default installed (I think that's right). On my iPhone it hides everything but phone, messages, and music.

The one downside is that when the time is up and the apps are returned to the screen they come back alphabetically rather than where they were. This was still worth it to me.

Probably worth trying at least once to see if you like it.
posted by raccoon409 at 7:18 PM on March 9, 2017

Freedom. (On mobile, so harder to link.). I LOVE it.
posted by kestrel251 at 7:40 PM on March 9, 2017

3 apps in this space, I haven't tested them myself but they come recommended by the reddit nosurf community which centers around this sort of thing:
QualityTime
BreakFree
OffTime
posted by CrystalDave at 7:58 PM on March 9, 2017

This is a tangential solution, but I markedly cut down on things like that when I switched to a phone service that prorated data (in this case project fi). A few in my family have it and it has turned into a competition to see who can have the cheapest bill each month.

Obviously for this to be effective you would have to leave wifi turned off during periods you're trying to cut back.

Im doubtful it'd be feasible for you, but if you could gamify it in some other way it may have a similar result
posted by czytm at 8:02 PM on March 9, 2017

Here's the Freedom app that kestrel251 didn't link to.
posted by intermod at 8:09 PM on March 9, 2017

seconding freedom! I just bought it again a few days ago, and was delighted to find you can now sync it between your laptop & phone so it simultaneously blocks sites & apps on both (specified in sets, or everything).
posted by changeling at 11:43 PM on March 9, 2017

I have an android - a Samsung, and the same browse reflex option. I also am having battery issues, and enabling Ultimate Power Saving mode has had the welcome side effect of cutting down my Facebook mindless scrolling.
posted by freethefeet at 1:02 AM on March 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

I also deleted the app from my phone. Don't miss it one bit.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 2:24 AM on March 10, 2017

Forest App is good for this. You set a time and a tree grows. If you unlock your phone before your time is up that poor little tree never gets the chance to reach its full potential.

The reason it works for me is that I'm an all or nothing type person so just having to basically turn the phone off for that period of time really works for me. Otherwise, "I'll look something up on safari but won't get on FB" just gets me started down the wormhole.

Another thing I've done is to hide all but the apps I really need to get to on my phone. So stuff like FB and Twitter are in a folder and I have to click a bunch of times to find them or do a search for them. Just that little interruption helps me stop doing it just as a habit.
posted by dawkins_7 at 6:57 AM on March 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

I find using the mobile version of facebook, instragram, etc (via using bookmark on chome) instead of the app cuts down on the notifications/easy-to-get drawn in accidentally thing
posted by typecloud at 8:58 AM on March 10, 2017