In search of a specific type of web activity blocker
September 20, 2021 2:30 PM Subscribe
I'm hoping to find an extension that would cut me off from certain websites (e.g., social media) after a set amount of time has elapsed, followed by a cooldown period of a few hours before regaining access rather than the seemingly more ubiquitous "lose access for the rest of the day once your time is up" style.
It seems like these focus-improvement blocker extensions are a popular product, but every example I've been able to find has been based on a model of just counting down a daily time budget and then nuking your access to the problem site until midnight (or whatever daily rollover time). I want something to keep me from parking on a site and mindlessly scrolling/refreshing it at length, but that still allows me to check in periodically though the day even if I ran out the timer earlier.
The reason I'm not interested in the nuking approach is that, while I want to be able to interrupt the cycle of getting "stuck" on a website, the nuking approach is too punitive in a way that can backfire (I end up feeling like I "failed," getting frustrated, and disabling the blocker), and seems counterproductive to me, especially when I'd still like the website to fulfill its original non-brain-hijacking purpose of giving me a quick occasional break from something else.
In theory I could carve up and budget a larger daily allotment time into small chunks, but it would be nice not to have to use extra planning and willpower for this.
Is there such a tool as this?
It seems like these focus-improvement blocker extensions are a popular product, but every example I've been able to find has been based on a model of just counting down a daily time budget and then nuking your access to the problem site until midnight (or whatever daily rollover time). I want something to keep me from parking on a site and mindlessly scrolling/refreshing it at length, but that still allows me to check in periodically though the day even if I ran out the timer earlier.
The reason I'm not interested in the nuking approach is that, while I want to be able to interrupt the cycle of getting "stuck" on a website, the nuking approach is too punitive in a way that can backfire (I end up feeling like I "failed," getting frustrated, and disabling the blocker), and seems counterproductive to me, especially when I'd still like the website to fulfill its original non-brain-hijacking purpose of giving me a quick occasional break from something else.
In theory I could carve up and budget a larger daily allotment time into small chunks, but it would be nice not to have to use extra planning and willpower for this.
Is there such a tool as this?
Seconding Freedom. It's not exactly what you want, but you can schedule social media free times, and choose which websites are blocked. You can pre-schedule 9am-12pm for work, for example, with no social time allowed. Or you can just force yourself to go cold turkey while you're a page, by starting the block immediately, so when you try to refresh the page, you can't.
posted by hydra77 at 3:02 PM on September 20
posted by hydra77 at 3:02 PM on September 20
My question is how do you access these sites? For me, I only access them via my laptop, not my phone. So when I close my laptop, those site are no longer available to me.
I only use my phone to maybe look up IMDB sites about TV shows I am watching, but never the twain shall meet. I don't do FB, Twitter, etc. on my phone. Once I close the laptop, forget social media and that is my me time.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 3:13 PM on September 20
I only use my phone to maybe look up IMDB sites about TV shows I am watching, but never the twain shall meet. I don't do FB, Twitter, etc. on my phone. Once I close the laptop, forget social media and that is my me time.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 3:13 PM on September 20
Response by poster: I access the sites via laptop, but for the purposes of this question, shutting the laptop isn't a viable solution.
Still hoping there is something out there with a cooldown feature, it doesn't look like Freedom or Impulse Blocker have quite the functionality I'm looking for.
posted by space snail at 7:13 PM on September 20
Still hoping there is something out there with a cooldown feature, it doesn't look like Freedom or Impulse Blocker have quite the functionality I'm looking for.
posted by space snail at 7:13 PM on September 20
Best answer: You can set LeechBlock to allow access for X minutes in each Y hour period (I have mine set to 10 minutes/4 hours, for instance, so that I can type out a quick MeFi comment -- hi! -- or something similar). You can also set it to allow a manual override, with a customizable length of override period, if you want to be able to take a quick break outside the original time budget.
posted by egregious theorem at 3:05 PM on September 21 [1 favorite]
posted by egregious theorem at 3:05 PM on September 21 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks, Egregious Therorem, that's just what I was looking for!
posted by space snail at 5:22 AM on September 22
posted by space snail at 5:22 AM on September 22
« Older Please ELI5 where to buy an N95 or KN95 face mask... | What's a quality home printer these days? Newer »
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
You could also try Freedom.to since they offer a whole suite of tools to help manage web distractions. I'm not sure if they have one that lets you visit sites and reminds you to do something else after X amount of time, but that might be in there somewhere. They do have a "Pause" feature that reminds you that you are about to visit a distracting website and gives you a moment to think about whether you actually want to visit it. Maybe that is configurable to keep pausing in set increments if you do continue to the site?
posted by forbiddencabinet at 2:43 PM on September 20