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Comment by kcorbitt | Hacker News Reader

This is self-promotional, but also highly relevant!

A few moths ago after reading Cal Newport's book "Deep Work", I decided to try to improve my social media usage by writing an app that could block HN/Twitter/Google News (the big 3 digital distractions for me) by default, and force me to go to an extra step to temporarily unblock them when I wanted to use them. It seems like a small thing, but that extra friction of having to open my app, unblock, and then go on to the service in question has really cut down my casual browsing. I feel much more productive and just... at peace with my internet usage since I've adopted this pattern.

If you have iOS and would like to give the app a try, I'd appreciate it! It's totally free for now. https://timeguard.io

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There is a similar app for Mac OS X: https://selfcontrolapp.com/

HN has a built in noprocrast mode in the user's page

Wow, thanks for making this! I've been doing time tracking with Moment, and so far all it's done is made me amazed that I spend 3-4+ hours a day on my phone. I like that this works with apps and websites.

I had a very similar experience, but have since relapsed back into the instagram-sphere. The only things keeping me there are group chats and Fortnite clips/memes.

The biggest benefit was how much my attention span improved when I quit, but now I am back using insta and the itching feeling of grabbing my phone the moment I'm bored or stuck on something has returned.

I need to re-read Deep Work and highly recommend it to others. I'm also going to give your app a try!

I know that itching feeling well, here's what's mostly worked for me: view your phone as tool with a limited set of functionality. For me, that functionality is: calls, texts, Google maps, Spotify, Audible, podcasts, and a camera.

That's it, no email (technically have the ability to send an email if i need to, but no notifications and no constant checking) and no random internet browsing and twitter etc consumption. I have some blocking apps that help with this, but the biggest thing I think is just the mindset. Twitter in line at the grocery store is no longer what my phone is for. Not that reading tabloid headlines is any better, but the main point is stretching out your focus muscles, getting rid of the urge to immediately grab your phone anytime there's a lull or hint of boredom in your life.

Overall, it's nice. Almost like being back in the 90's pre smart phone but also with a super powerful computer that can play any song you want/give you directions to anywhere when you need it to.

Yeah that's definitely a good way to look at it. I also turn off notifications for 90% of my apps which is a life changer. Same with email/slack notifications on my computer. I only have notifications if I get DM'd.

This is amazing!

So it looks like the app is setting up a VPN and doing traffic filtering there. How exactly does it work?

Also, one question I have: what sort of transparency/guarantees do you have about data privacy? I saw the notification when I installed it but would like more considering all traffic will go through this local VPN.

There is no exfiltration of data from the client device. Unfortunately I don't know of a technical way to prove that though.

Seems like a bunch of you are replacing procrastination through social media with procrastination through coding. Marco Arment also has a Mac app, which quits any app in a list that's been idle. https://marco.org/apps

I made a Chrome extension called Not Now that helps with this: https://seferdesign.com/not-now/

Does it require to install a certificate or what is the mechanism for enabling the VPN on iOS?

Looks pretty useful.

Does the app snooze notifications, but also keep messages/notifications unread?

Notifications will still come through, since they're pushed by Apple and I can only block the app's own servers. That said, I turned off notifications for all social-style services a long time ago, and would recommend the same to anyone. :)

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