I was driven to install WinOFF to put the computer into hibernation an hour before bed each night. I even disabled the cancel button - when it's time, there's no stopping it. I think I've been sleeping much better lately.

timepiece

I find prism to be quite useful. It really does offer distraction free browsing. I can have an essay or a translation or whatnot open in Writer, then a couple of prism windows open (one for a bilingual dictionary, one for a conjugator), and the temptation to fire up google reader or Gmail because I have an unread count at the bottom of my firefox window is gone entirely. Genius! I also swear by compiz fusion's ADD helper plugin. I don't have ADHD, but it does help me focus on the task at hand, along with multiple desktops with one window on each, it's just a quick tap of the keyboard and you can check a spelling and be back typing in moments, plus compiz will leave one window on each desktop in focus, so you're not waiting for them to "warm up".

blackheart-uk

Vered handled the "self control" thing for Deprong Mori already.

VenomousKate

I adopted the two-computer method after reading a post on Ayelet Waldman's short-lived blog. I don't remember the details; it was several years ago. The gist of it was that her husband (the author Michael Chabon) uses an offline computer while he writes. If he has a research question that requires the Internet, she looks it up. I don't know what he does if she's not home or is busy doing something else. :-)

I used to use the offline desktop for my copyediting work, and wrote down anything I needed to look up online. I used my laptop for anything Internet-related. But then the laptop went into the shop, and while it was away I hooked up the desktop, and found that it was really nice to be able to look up words in several different dictionaries or check citations in an online database, so I haven't gone back to my old system. And that, my friends, is how I came to spend nearly an hour learning the exhaustive history of the word "juggernaut" in order to justify changing an author's usage of it... instead of just looking it up in the dictionary that I keep at my desk, with my style manuals.

molly b

Deprong Mori is exercising some self-control by not participating of this discussion...

It's easy to get distracted and you do not need the net to keep distracted too. So it basically boils down to how responsible you are about what you do and the people who asked you to do so in the first place.

whiskey

Wow. We're 17 comments in, and no obligatory Deprong Mori post to tell us we all just need to exercise some freakin' self-control! I feel so... lost.

jaxun

@Troy F.: Well... yeah... ofcourse I've tried... but, I trick myself into thinking I'll pop back in for a few minutes and then it turns into 2 hours.

I can write a report and just turn off the WiFi on the laptop and even go out to the patio to write. But then I say to myself "I just want to have peek at the Failed Log Ins, or maybe just do a quick Tail on a few IP Addresses", just to check up on things in the Network, and, then it's "oh well then now lemme have a quick peek at the email", and then, "lets see what's up in Gizmodo", "oh well then I'll just reply in one article", then, I have a peek at Lifehacker, Gawker, Velleywag... and it's 2 hours later and I am not even half way done with the report...

...and right now I sit here writing this reply and have 4 stacks of papers waiting to be organized in the file drawer... see?

I'm a lost case... I'm gonna try and do some work now.

xint

Temptation blocker is exactly what I need for OS X.

It's not just internet, it's also RSS, chat and iTunes on which I waste time.

2shae

I have to keep an online connection and an open browser to do my work, which requires accessing two online databases. I have a terrible time not getting distracted with blogs and news. I wish there were a program that would not block specific sites, but rather would block ALL sites, except for a few specified ones. I've been trying to find one for a long time now, and I would love a suggestion. Having a way to block all websites except the two I'm supposed to be using would be a great productivity help.

SalvatoreCachebag

i have such a hard time staying off the internet. im a musicians but i love my computers and electronics...but music takes alot of practice and i cant get that when im sitting here typing this message cuz the internet is distracting. and just unplugging doesnt work for me cuz its not like its a huge task to just turn the connection back on.

stryker1800

I use LeechBlock, as suggested by this site a while back. I can't unplug because I use MATLAB for programming, which requites a connection to it's online license server. I set LeechBlock to allow only half an hour of surfing a day.

lolphysics

Self discipline. It works in other area (eating healthy, exercising), obviously not without a struggle - works for this too.

vered

Ach, should have included the link: [sourceforge.net]

Bubarubu

@takemetoyourtoaster: Temptation Blocker. You pick any apps you want to avoid using, set the amount of time you want to avoid using them, and set it. If you need one of those programs, you have to enter a 32 digit alphanumeric code to get back in. When I'm writing a paper, I'll block FF but leave IE open in case I need to pull up a database. Using IE is usually enough to make me want to stay offline.

Bubarubu

I allow myself 20 minutes of email/web time whenever I've finished an item on my task list. It works beautifully (as long as I do my task list as they come up instead of thinking, "Well, THAT will take a long time, I'll do that one later.") and means I tend to use my email/web time productively as well. I've only got 20 minutes, after all.

HolbrookBaucis

@xint:And it's not like I can just unplug.

Have you tried it? You might find yourself surprised. I used to think this and then I realized that there are plenty of ways for my boss/coworkers to get a hold of me if there's an emergency. If I need to write a policy, report, script that needs my undivided attention and I "unplug" for an hour or two, the company does not actually fall to pieces under me and my boss is actually happier because these tasks get knocked out of the way sooner.

Troy F.

Ritalin FTW!

drewls

I'm a Systems ADMIN and I am on the internet the full day of work. It is part of my job to look over our organization's internet stability and bandwidth. This is not the problem, the real problem comes when I have to sit for hours and write reports about projects and work done... it's impossible! I can never get a full report done without getting distracted. And it's not like I can just unplug. I have been working on a personal portfolio for the past week and it seems easy enough, but, I keep getting distracted. I sometimes feel the motivation flowing and get a lot done, but, I can hear the internetz calling me from afar! LOL!

xint

I remember reading that Charles Petzold (as of 2005) used two partitions on his hard drive. The primary partition contained a standard Windows installation. The secondary partition contained only a printer driver, Microsoft Word, Visual Studio, and .NET. He used the secondary partition for his work, and booted into the primary partition to check his mail.

I believe that he did this to more easily install beta versions of Visual Studio and .NET, but one side effect was fewer distractions.

Matthew Reed

Paul Grahm is right on the money about getting rid of TV. It really is not all that extreme unless your job entails watching TV for programming, evaluation, etc. I did not have TV for many years and I was much more productive; however, I tended to overuse the computer and surf.

Since I know I have a tendency to surf aimlessly, before I turn on the computer, I clearly know my objectives for turning it on (email, research, work, etc,.) and if I find myself straying, I immediately stop. In some cases, I will email myself the the page I have strayed to so that I can read it later and then delete the email.

On the other hand, I also schedule time to just surf and read interesting blogs like LifeHacker. My objective is not to get rid of surfing but to schedule it just like any other task I have to do.

RunnerGirl

I've omitted the TV from my room back in 10th grade, and I haven't even bought one for my semester-appartment.

But the internet is a far bigger source of distraction.
Still, I need it for research and uni-related stuff nearly al the time.
In the past few weeks I noticed, that surfing on the one hand keeps me entertained/distracted for hours at a time, if I let it.
On the other hand helps me to relax from heavy learning.

To prevent myself from wasting time that I would need to learn stuff [like in the past two weeks] I only activate Mail and NetNewsWire in predefined breaks.
I heave nearly given up browsing my favourite sites/RSS-feeds in general through Safari or Camino. (It takes far to much time to sort out interesting articles.)

That way I can learn for "x" hours at a time, then do a break, eat sth and check the net.

Netnewswire is particularly helpful in this matter: It allows me to set rules for updating. For example I made it only check less important feeds once or twice a day. This helps in not getting carried away.

mangochutney

I've gotten the e-mail distractor under control: I schedule e-mail checks only four times a day -- 15-20-minute sessions during the day (to reply to all the important messages), and one long session after work (to respond to all the rest, and to update my agenda for the next day).

Avoiding distraction from the more personal digressions ("I need a mental break... Let me see what's on Lifehacker...") is much harder. Taking breaks is important, but I try to leave them to lunch time. (Except today: As I type this, it's 07.47am.)

On that note, back to work.

cavalierex

hey i have a question, I thought of good idea for a simple application, but I have no programming skills at all.
my idea is like this, you start up the app, it turns off wifi, to go back on the internet, you have to answer 10 questions, to get online you have to score above a certain point, and the questions would be gotten from a website and chosen randomly.
is there some place to post ideas

takemetoyourtoaster

This is effective. It's amazing how a quick email check can turn into a 2 hour session on wikipedia / lifehacker.

The problem I have is trying to manage staying offline, with the need to go online to check for something work related. I at least close the web browser and MSN if I'm working unless absolutely essential. I'll check something then immediately close it.

johnsmith1234

I do my university studies on the 1 hr train ride on the way home (I avoid express trains so that I can get a seat). I've resisted the temptation of buying a wireless broadband setup because the productivity I get from not having anything else to do for that train ride other than uni stuff works great.

Rod-H

i have also unplugged my tv. it's very old and bad and not too much is good on, anyway. i limit myself to whatever's on while i eat dinner. the rest of the time it's unplugged.

when i was in high school, internet was a HUGE distraction. i managed to meet deadlines by using a typewriter for doing homework to stay away from AIM! only drawback to typewriter: no spell check.

strangerous