[ZacharyStrong]

Are you addicted to the internet? To Facebook? Can't get any school work done? There's now an app for that.

The effects of high-speed internet access have not gone unnoticed among the medical field: there are several well-documented studies on internet addiction (yes, that is now a condition). You might be interested in the following facts regarding internet use:

- The average person’s attention span is apparently now shorter than a goldfish’s.
- Spending more than one hour a day on the internet drops your GPA slightly, but spending more than one hour a day playing online video games can drop your GPA by a full letter grade.
- Excessive internet use is linked to higher rates of depression, among a host of other psychological abnormalities.

The Solution:

It's a program called Freedom (www.macfreedom.com). Here's how it works.

- I open up the program, and it asks me how many minutes of freedom I would like.
- I enter a number between 15 and 480 (that’s 8 hours), and the program shuts off my internet for that amount of time.
- If I feel the need to access the internet, I have to restart my computer in order to close the program – there’s no other workaround. Obviously, restarting my computer is a huge pain, which means that it’s way easier to stay on track.

I strongly believe that any university student that is serious about getting work done needs to invest in Freedom, or a similar program (here’s a list). It will vastly improve your ability to study, write essays, and otherwise focus on things that aren’t cat videos or the kissy-face bathroom photos that your friend just posted on Facebook.

There's also a similar program called ColdTurkey. It only works for Windows, but it blocks social media sites, games, programs, and other addicting websites. There’s also SelfControl for Mac users.

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This post was originally featured on my blog, which you can find at http://zacharystrong.net/blog/

[Kev.Guo.22]

On the same token, if you have a Mac, there's an app called SelfControl. It works along the same lines except its a bit more selective. You can enter a list of sites that you let the program block for however long you want.
Personally, I'd have like facebook, reddit, youtube etc. blocked for whatever chuck of time.
Also, the best feature is that it actually can't be turned off or worked around without significant effort. Even if you shut off your computer and restart, it's still blocked until the time ends.
The program has been crucial for my study habits.

Also, there's a google chrome extension called StayFocusd. But I haven't played around with that one as much.

Edit: Didn't see you already mentioned SelfControl. But I guess that's just some more info on it and why I'd advocate for it.

[Alomar12]

I've used Cold Turkey twice in the last two days and I've noticed three glaring problems. Firstly, I have been forced to reset my passwords to both Facebook and Twitter each time I have used it. Secondly, it really slows down your computer. My computer usually has no issues and when I am running Cold Turkey I have a tremendous amount of difficulty even opening Google. Furthermore, each time I have run it, it has gotten stuck on and has not restored access to the sites at the prescribed time. The first time I waited about 30 minutes and the second time I had to wait almost two hours. Finally, I have noticed that ever since I installed the program, I cannot seem to wake my computer up from a sleep. The only way to restart my computer is to manually force a shutdown (with my toggle button), causing an improper shutdown, and start over.

Perhaps some of the other programs work better, but now I'm a bit shy to try.

[ZSimon]

Pomodoro technique lovers

http://www.focusboosterapp.c om/

[Suspect]

What if you have SSD (not saying i have it, but what if?) and restarting your computer is not a problem?

What if the work you're evading requires internet access?

[RyanC]

The secret to not wasting time on the internet is to actually believe/realize things done on the internet are almost *always* a waste of time. Habits are only broken by practice... The pomorodoro technique of 20 mins work, 5 minute break, triple break on third/fourth cycle is a good start. Every time you can manage just a bit more work or a bit less break means you're making progress.

[MrPlinkett]

Originally Posted by RyanC

The secret to not wasting time on the internet is to actually believe/realize things done on the internet are almost *always* a waste of time. Habits are only broken by practice... The pomorodoro technique of 20 mins work, 5 minute break, triple break on third/fourth cycle is a good start. Every time you can manage just a bit more work or a bit less break means you're making progress.

Ray William Johnson is a waste of time? Sure. PornHub? Never!

Also what if most of your school stuff is online? then internet is a sort of occupational hazard, you cant avoid it

[RyanC]

Originally Posted by MrPlinkett

Also what if most of your school stuff is online? then internet is a sort of occupational hazard, you cant avoid it

That kind of goes without saying, yo

[xxorianna]

If you use google chrome, there's an extension called StayFocusd. It lets you set an allotted time limit that you give yourself to spend on 'time wasters' like Facebook, etc. Once that time limit is done, the site's inaccessible for the rest of the day. The only workaround is if you complete a fairly tricky paragraph typing challenge that you have to do without any mistakes.