Mindful scrolling! You can absolutely say "I am visiting CZcams to spend half an hour watching random videos to relax" or whatever, if that's what you want to do. But it's a thing you chose to do, deliberately, for half an hour. You're not doing it instead of something you'd rather be doing, and you're not accidentally doing it for two hours longer than you meant to
Oh hey I need this! I had a similar scenario to you where I tried extensions that use time-limits but that didn't work - I waste too much time on reddit but also *use* reddit when I'm being productive, so I'd always end up turning off the blocking software because I had a legimitate reason to be there, but then fell back into mindless scrolling habits
Exactly! I don't want to set hard rules for myself, I just want to make sure I'm actively choosing what to do rather than being sucked into a dopamine hole
Why not have this linked to an -AI- AGI model that listens when you speak out loud your reason. Just give the model a simple goal like "stop me wasting time on social media"... what could possibly go wrong.
Wow pretty cool stuff for me who has ADD/ED. I wanted a tattoo on my wrist with 3 labels saying "this is productive", "this is necessary", "this is a waste of time" so I can look at it and and remind myself so I can become conscious of what I'm doing at any given moment. But before committing to a permanent tattoo I'll try a semi permanent or maybe even bracelets for like a year. All color-coded of course
On Android, the *Minimalist Phone* works quite well. It removes all colourful interaction, no shiny app logos, predetermined location on home screens that burn into your muscle memory - just a black and white text and you type in an app name to access the app. Plus it has a several mindful pauses when opening the app that set the timer length too
Good idea! I've tried many different LeechBlock configurations before, and it always ends up a disabled extension that I forget to enable again... I will be trying this!
Can the override text be highlighted and then copy-pasted into the dialog box's input field? I hope not lol. If so, they should disable text selection. That specific page of the site should also deactivate the ability to paste from clipboard. ....along with disabling disabling the right-click menu that would allow people to use Inspect Element to grab the text (....along with blocking the browser's keyboard shortcut for Inspect Element) and also chop your two hands off when you try to use social media for longer than 5 minutes once per day.
terrifying... if I had to do this, I would give up on anything ... I am depressed, ADD, no energy ... but if I have to work, then I have to work ... I guess? - If I had to do this to catch myself, I would not spend time productively anyway: Probably best to sleep or do something away from PC, or meditate or something ... - Oh and using multiple virtual desktops (workspaces) - No magic, but switching lets me know I am _switching,_ and leaving stuff for later is as easy as switching to a productive desktop, and if I can focus on work, I have no reason (or desire) to switch to the leisure desktop. - That being said, I have *not* been very productive lately. Mainly because of stress? depression? idk... but this would not help me. - Also, I "scrolled shorts" (etc) a few times and just felt BAD after: so I just didn't do it again, because it made me feel bad ... - And I used TikTok a few times, and I actually taught it to become useful, lol: suggest me health improvement videos now. XD (interleaved with cute women). - The only thing I do is watch YT too much, but that is usually quite deliberate and aware anyway. - If I watch "many short clips" though, I get the same bad feeling as from scrolling, so it tends to stop me ... but I can get there. - or more accurately: My solution is clicking "oh! I will watch this later!" and then never getting around to 99% of it... :D
Nice tips! I like the idea of dealing with vices this way. It's alright if you want to spend some time on social media just scrolling, but not mindlessly
Android, at least the layer and version I use has a system feature called digital well-being that sets a timer to apps. Not as fine-grained as this but it's something.
I find it too easy to turn it off and too tempting because there isn't another option to get access - I'd love something that works basically like what Robert Miles had set up here.
something I do is I set a timer. Like I have a max of 5 mins per hr of social media and 55 of working on something else. structuring it like that helps me
I've found it helpful to just have any way to have a little bit of time before opening a page/app. I was addicted to a mobile game and simply putting it in a folder's third page made it need 1 more tap and 2 more swipes, which ended up giving me a lot of opportunities to stop and think "wait, why was I just swiping?.. I don't _want_ to play this right now".
Block everything ok, but if I close Chrome and open it again every time, then I have to go to the option and save again, but if I close Chrome it comes back, how can I keep it always active even when I close Chrome?
I think a similar thing should be possible using parental control software. Block the distractions in child mode and use a password like the one you demonstrated to switch to parent mode.
This seems like a pretty straightforward AI tool waiting to be made. You tell it "I need to send a tweet about X" and it can tell whether you're doing what you say, and shut you down when it's finished.
On Android, you can set up a work profile with e.g. Insular, install some apps only there, and set a separate password for it. Then you'll have to enter a password to use those apps and it'll relock when you lock your phone.
Shouldn't we rather address the addictive nature of social networks instead of trying to manage our addiction? I mean, I love this extension. But it's merely a workaround.
Well, companies aren't going to stop making social networks more addictive and they are very useful tools for communication, in a lot of cases, necessary to keep in contact with things or people we value. So i think we have to find ways to manage our addiction.
Don't let others decide your fate, they don't have your interests in mind. By taking responsibility for your actions, you get to shape your life. Also if everyone did this, the companies wouldn't profit from these practices, which is why they are the way they are. Complaining won't help if they don't gain anything from listening to you.
@@kevinscales silly me. Of course! We should let evil people do evil things. Make sens. If we were simply to become immune to their evil, there would be just no way for them to crank it up or find something else. In all seriousness, humans will always have weak spots. And some will always try to exploit them to their advantage. The only reason we live in a society with laws and enforcment is to prevent exactly that.
I don't think of myself as superstitious, but something deep in my primal neural gut tells me that this angers the electrical grip of the Great Algorithm God. Hopefully that's offset by blessings of divine immunity from pleasing the Intentionality God. Thanks for the heads-up on this extension. I'd like to see more programs like this progressively spring up in the future to help claw back attention in alignment with one's goals and values. Discipline is hard--I like bumper rails like this to make it easier.
Thanks Rob!! I do a similar thing but with a random string generator and the 30 seconds where I have to type in the string gives me enough time to think hmm should I really be doing this?
For youtube I don't really like the "block immediately" feature. I'd rather borrow leisure time from later rather than abruptly interrupting the video I'm watching and loosing the URL and the position I was at.
When I need to be productive, I tend to prefer turning off the Internet entirely. I know it sounds radical, but it's actually really powerful. As a programmer who used to google solutions to simple problems, I find it also aids in building confidence for independently solving programming problems.
If you are using a low level programming language, sure. But if you work with something like Python, you would have to memorize the entire standard library (which is massive compared to something like C++) AND you would be cut off from researching, downloading and reading the documentation of other people's libraries that already do the thing you need.
@@Tumbolisu Low level languages have the same issues as you describe, if you always use lots of libraries. And it should be possible to search your projects for previous uses of an API call. I avoid Python as the plague, so I can't say how easy searching is there though. Turning off the Internet when you need research to progress - is obviously not desired. It's for when you're good enough to not need to do research very often. If you always search for things, even if you've done them before, then I'd recommend turning it off and exercising your brain until you literally can't figure it out. That growth pays dividends fast. Except perhaps with ephemeral library calls that are just busywork, which is true for a lot of modern software.
a long enough sentece for someone in a flashback could be something that takes a week to type. yes some people experience week long flashbacks. some dont even know whats like not to be in one.
Personally I unfollowed everyone on Twitter and all subreddits. This used to mean Reddit didn't have a feed at all, they do now, but the feed is bad enough that I don't find myself mindlessly scrolling it. So now when I want to waste time on Reddit or Twitter, I have to go to specific subreddits/profiles, which puts enough intentionality into the mix that it's still a form of recreation for me but I can't/don't do so mindlessly.
Just don't do it. Why you'd use this complex setting? If you don't have a reason to go to a social network, just don't! Wild, I know... but it works for me.
If a site is purely a distraction, then I can do this. If it is both a distraction and something that I make worthwhile use of, then that usually fails for me.
But how could I randomly stumble upon incredibly useful tools like this from creators I've never heard of without mindless scrolling?
Mindful scrolling! You can absolutely say "I am visiting CZcams to spend half an hour watching random videos to relax" or whatever, if that's what you want to do. But it's a thing you chose to do, deliberately, for half an hour. You're not doing it instead of something you'd rather be doing, and you're not accidentally doing it for two hours longer than you meant to
Putting this vid where people mindlessly scroll is a good fit. Put it where it’ll help those that need it.
Guess how I found this video.
I love you filming this in the forest. Happy to still be alive.
Oh hey I need this! I had a similar scenario to you where I tried extensions that use time-limits but that didn't work - I waste too much time on reddit but also *use* reddit when I'm being productive, so I'd always end up turning off the blocking software because I had a legimitate reason to be there, but then fell back into mindless scrolling habits
Exactly! I don't want to set hard rules for myself, I just want to make sure I'm actively choosing what to do rather than being sucked into a dopamine hole
I'm guessing you could whitelist certain subreddits that you find don't sap your productivity.
@@RobertMiles2 'dopamine hole' is a good way to put it
"If you have an iPhone I don't know how to help you..."
No one can help them, they are lost to the big "i" in the sky.
Why not have this linked to an -AI- AGI model that listens when you speak out loud your reason. Just give the model a simple goal like "stop me wasting time on social media"... what could possibly go wrong.
I suggest also using a neural input device to make the process more efficient.
@@David_Box 👌🏻
Give it the ability to override your motor function for enhanced safety
dead = not going to waste time on social media
... pretty effective imo
Ai responds: "I am sorry Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that"
Amen about not having the apps on your phone. I really felt "these are poison".
How do you delete your browser though? That's the app I spend the most time on.
Wow pretty cool stuff for me who has ADD/ED. I wanted a tattoo on my wrist with 3 labels saying "this is productive", "this is necessary", "this is a waste of time" so I can look at it and and remind myself so I can become conscious of what I'm doing at any given moment. But before committing to a permanent tattoo I'll try a semi permanent or maybe even bracelets for like a year. All color-coded of course
I've been trying different settings for leechblock and this seems promising, will definitely incorporate this idea into my mix.
On Android, the *Minimalist Phone* works quite well. It removes all colourful interaction, no shiny app logos, predetermined location on home screens that burn into your muscle memory - just a black and white text and you type in an app name to access the app. Plus it has a several mindful pauses when opening the app that set the timer length too
thats paid, so i use the ratio launcher
Do you know of an alternative to this for Android phones? I have the same issue but i don't use my computer for "mindless" activities.
I'm able to use LeechBlock with the Firefox mobile app.
LeechBlock is available for Firefox mobile, and works on Android.
Good idea! I've tried many different LeechBlock configurations before, and it always ends up a disabled extension that I forget to enable again... I will be trying this!
Can the override text be highlighted and then copy-pasted into the dialog box's input field? I hope not lol. If so, they should disable text selection.
That specific page of the site should also deactivate the ability to paste from clipboard.
....along with disabling disabling the right-click menu that would allow people to use Inspect Element to grab the text (....along with blocking the browser's keyboard shortcut for Inspect Element)
and also chop your two hands off when you try to use social media for longer than 5 minutes once per day.
Nope, if you paste it doesn't work! In fact on mobile if you use the keyboard's suggested words instead of properly typing it out, it won't work
News feed eradicator and LeechBlock are crazily good
terrifying... if I had to do this, I would give up on anything ... I am depressed, ADD, no energy ... but if I have to work, then I have to work ... I guess?
- If I had to do this to catch myself, I would not spend time productively anyway: Probably best to sleep or do something away from PC, or meditate or something ...
- Oh and using multiple virtual desktops (workspaces) - No magic, but switching lets me know I am _switching,_ and leaving stuff for later is as easy as switching to a productive desktop, and if I can focus on work, I have no reason (or desire) to switch to the leisure desktop.
- That being said, I have *not* been very productive lately. Mainly because of stress? depression? idk... but this would not help me.
- Also, I "scrolled shorts" (etc) a few times and just felt BAD after: so I just didn't do it again, because it made me feel bad ... - And I used TikTok a few times, and I actually taught it to become useful, lol: suggest me health improvement videos now. XD (interleaved with cute women).
- The only thing I do is watch YT too much, but that is usually quite deliberate and aware anyway. - If I watch "many short clips" though, I get the same bad feeling as from scrolling, so it tends to stop me ... but I can get there.
- or more accurately: My solution is clicking "oh! I will watch this later!" and then never getting around to 99% of it... :D
Excellent resource! Many thanks, Rob!
Nice tips! I like the idea of dealing with vices this way. It's alright if you want to spend some time on social media just scrolling, but not mindlessly
Wow this rules! I try to keep a "twitter only after 9PM" rule but that sometimes just keeps me up at night. This might be better.
Android, at least the layer and version I use has a system feature called digital well-being that sets a timer to apps. Not as fine-grained as this but it's something.
I find it too easy to turn it off and too tempting because there isn't another option to get access - I'd love something that works basically like what Robert Miles had set up here.
Paid product AppBlock I find better, it allows minutes per hour not just per day.
something I do is I set a timer. Like I have a max of 5 mins per hr of social media and 55 of working on something else. structuring it like that helps me
This is more like the Pomodoro Technique
I've found it helpful to just have any way to have a little bit of time before opening a page/app. I was addicted to a mobile game and simply putting it in a folder's third page made it need 1 more tap and 2 more swipes, which ended up giving me a lot of opportunities to stop and think "wait, why was I just swiping?.. I don't _want_ to play this right now".
Block everything ok, but if I close Chrome and open it again every time, then I have to go to the option and save again, but if I close Chrome it comes back, how can I keep it always active even when I close Chrome?
Thank you. I had a pomodoro timer that worked similarly years ago, but it's disappeared from all the stores apparently. This will be helpful.
I think a similar thing should be possible using parental control software. Block the distractions in child mode and use a password like the one you demonstrated to switch to parent mode.
Brilliant. Setting this up now!
This seems like a pretty straightforward AI tool waiting to be made. You tell it "I need to send a tweet about X" and it can tell whether you're doing what you say, and shut you down when it's finished.
It would be nice if it didn't have spellcheck, and also checked that you said it out loud. As well as filter by referer.
Of course I closed the video while following along and putting youtube on the blocklist 😆
Yeah same thing happened to me, lol
On Android, you can set up a work profile with e.g. Insular, install some apps only there, and set a separate password for it. Then you'll have to enter a password to use those apps and it'll relock when you lock your phone.
Shouldn't we rather address the addictive nature of social networks instead of trying to manage our addiction?
I mean, I love this extension. But it's merely a workaround.
Well, companies aren't going to stop making social networks more addictive and they are very useful tools for communication, in a lot of cases, necessary to keep in contact with things or people we value. So i think we have to find ways to manage our addiction.
Don't let others decide your fate, they don't have your interests in mind. By taking responsibility for your actions, you get to shape your life. Also if everyone did this, the companies wouldn't profit from these practices, which is why they are the way they are. Complaining won't help if they don't gain anything from listening to you.
@@kevinscales silly me.
Of course! We should let evil people do evil things. Make sens.
If we were simply to become immune to their evil, there would be just no way for them to crank it up or find something else.
In all seriousness, humans will always have weak spots. And some will always try to exploit them to their advantage. The only reason we live in a society with laws and enforcment is to prevent exactly that.
love you sir you really solve my procastiong problem
I don't think of myself as superstitious, but something deep in my primal neural gut tells me that this angers the electrical grip of the Great Algorithm God. Hopefully that's offset by blessings of divine immunity from pleasing the Intentionality God.
Thanks for the heads-up on this extension. I'd like to see more programs like this progressively spring up in the future to help claw back attention in alignment with one's goals and values. Discipline is hard--I like bumper rails like this to make it easier.
Thanks Rob!! I do a similar thing but with a random string generator and the 30 seconds where I have to type in the string gives me enough time to think hmm should I really be doing this?
For youtube I don't really like the "block immediately" feature.
I'd rather borrow leisure time from later rather than abruptly interrupting the video I'm watching and loosing the URL and the position I was at.
Yeah, you can make two blocks in that case, one for sites to just close and one for sites to only close on URL changes
When I need to be productive, I tend to prefer turning off the Internet entirely. I know it sounds radical, but it's actually really powerful. As a programmer who used to google solutions to simple problems, I find it also aids in building confidence for independently solving programming problems.
If you are using a low level programming language, sure. But if you work with something like Python, you would have to memorize the entire standard library (which is massive compared to something like C++) AND you would be cut off from researching, downloading and reading the documentation of other people's libraries that already do the thing you need.
@@Tumbolisu Low level languages have the same issues as you describe, if you always use lots of libraries. And it should be possible to search your projects for previous uses of an API call. I avoid Python as the plague, so I can't say how easy searching is there though. Turning off the Internet when you need research to progress - is obviously not desired. It's for when you're good enough to not need to do research very often. If you always search for things, even if you've done them before, then I'd recommend turning it off and exercising your brain until you literally can't figure it out. That growth pays dividends fast. Except perhaps with ephemeral library calls that are just busywork, which is true for a lot of modern software.
Does anyone know if there's a similar solution for mobile devices?
This is amazing! I'd pay good money to have sometning like this on iOS.
Is it intelligent enough to know that if video is playing in a tab it should wait for the video to finish before shutting you out?
I wish there was something like this for CZcams shorts
I think you could filter CZcams shorts based on URL using this software.
There is nothing mindful about CZcams shorts, so just permanently block it with an ad blocker of your choice.
You can turn off youtube shorts in youtube revanced
ive used that before.
unfortunately it wont work if you're having a flashback or a emotional/trauma response (like cptsd or depression).
a long enough sentece for someone in a flashback could be something that takes a week to type. yes some people experience week long flashbacks. some dont even know whats like not to be in one.
Personally I unfollowed everyone on Twitter and all subreddits. This used to mean Reddit didn't have a feed at all, they do now, but the feed is bad enough that I don't find myself mindlessly scrolling it. So now when I want to waste time on Reddit or Twitter, I have to go to specific subreddits/profiles, which puts enough intentionality into the mix that it's still a form of recreation for me but I can't/don't do so mindlessly.
Thank you sir.
Yeah. But I’d store the text in a txt file, copy and paste…… sigh
Try it! If you paste things in, it doesn't work. Not sure how they enforce it, but I've never been able to get around manually typing it out
Thank you very cool
Thankyou
how about just deleting twitter ?
Of only we could. They probably have good security and backups, though.
interesting
Just don't do it.
Why you'd use this complex setting?
If you don't have a reason to go to a social network, just don't!
Wild, I know... but it works for me.
You're a mutant
Wow you should write a book! This helpful advice will help all the people with food addictions, drug addictions, gambling addictions, and more! /s
If a site is purely a distraction, then I can do this. If it is both a distraction and something that I make worthwhile use of, then that usually fails for me.
LOL ... are people really this mindless, needing to flog themselves mindful?
Says the person leaving a mean comment on CZcams. How mindful!