The rise of Anti-Distraction Software
economist.com
economist.com
I read an interesting article recently, discussing the idea of "habit fields". Basically, their assertion was that our bad habits, like checking email or refreshing HN, are tied to physical location as much as anything else. The idea isn't new or unique, but is interesting when applied to this issue of the digital shallows.
So, I've been trying to tackle the problem from that angle instead. I force myself to use an iPad or laptop for casual reading, only in the same physical areas I would normally read physical books for leisure. If I see something interesting while I'm at my development machine, I send it to Instapaper for later and close it immediately.
It's hard to quantify, but seems to have had at least some positive impact on my ability to sit down at my development machine and easily focus on productive tasks.
What's really scary is how large a majority of Internet users are being exposed to the same brain drain we are, but aren't as acutely aware of it because they're refreshing Farmville instead of HN.
If you are able to locally store everything you need it's a great way to get more things done, I also seemed to sleep more normal hours because there is less to keep me distracted.
With these productivity programs, an interesting way to keep people on focus without making them physically impossible to break is to hook them up to people facebook/ twitter/a website designed for it where each time they broke the restrictions a popup asks them to write a short message on why they did. No better way to highlight any real concentration problems than let your friends see every time you can't keep to your goal.
1) Understand that load times, when constantly browsing, are a huge source of "jumps". When a page takes along time to load, I jump to a different task. Use this knowledge appropriately.
2) Bulk load. Any time I can use one area/task to the maximum in terms of time used, I should. Starting is one of the hardest things to do, so if I have the ability to write four blog posts or code for 10 hours straight or research vehemently, I do so for as many tasks as I can, not just one. Break it down, then spread it out to as many other tasks as that one interface allows.
It's amazing what a difference either of these approaches makes. Given that this movement is getting coverage in The Economist now, I almost expect Apple to implement something not entirely unlike Isolator for 10.7.
It's the bottleneck that forces us to make choices as to what we are doing at any given time and keeps us opening and closing applications or minimizing screens to fill the single desktop real estate.
Hardware needs to adapt to the amount of information out there and it hasn't. The single monitor desktop environment is 30 years old. Break that bottleneck and you will have more information under your control at any given time.
I don't know if that's the 'best' way to handle it (I'm not an addiction specialist, I just have many addicts in my family - 2 of which have gone through similar programs), but it is certainly effective. Both of the family members who went through such programs have been clean for >20 years afterward, after 15-20 years of abuse.
How does that apply to turning off your services? Doe one then seek counseling before turning them back on? Or in the case of the alcoholic, never turning them on again? Goodbye Twitter!
Maybe I made a bad analogy, my point was that information overload is more a general problem than addiction, another topic altogether. But in both cases, you still have to face your problem. Cold turnkey is only a temporary solution.
Avoiding distractions is not a physical addiction that one needs to go "cold turkey" with. If so, the user has bigger problems than information overload. Game addicts would fall into that category, not those following Twitter or any other real-time media.
I use several monitors and have dedicated my social media to only one of them and I removed the audible alerts which I never liked anyway. My work area always remains on the center monitor, whether I am reading an article, writing a proposal or the like. When I need to stop and catch up on my real-time media, it is always there to my left. I don't need to re-open any apps or log back into any services or un-hobble my network. That alone would take more time from my schedule than a little self control.
If we are talking about addicts, then this is another discussion altogether.
A certain amount of muscle memory is the problem. I can open distracting sites without even thinking about it. I use the LeechBlock plugin for Firefox to block out distracting sites when I really need to get something done. For the first little while, I open the sites automatically (which, of course, doesn't work). Eventually my brain gets temporarily retrained and I don't do it as much.
Bottleneck isn't really the issue (I have big dual-monitors, for example). No matter how much screen space you have, you can only look at one thing at a time. It takes your attention to read hacker news, for example.
Widening the bottleneck allows one to view, arrange and process more information. I bet you are using both monitors directly in front of you, as one large display. That's a bottleneck as well. Try putting another to your right or left and filter certain information to it. Worked wonders for me.
Controlling what your fingers do, is another matter.I am in total control of my body when using the computer.
Sounds like you might have an addiction.
Isn't that what we're talking about here?
I posted the question on StackOverFlow http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3027574/help-with-running...
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/ff_nicholas_carr/2/
Now try reading through this article without getting distracted.
It would be like an escape artist locking himself in a cleverly secured cell to make himself work on something.