Ask HN: How do I avoid scrolling to the death? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do I avoid scrolling to the death?

4 pointsbaby5 comments

I get distracted easily. I often check messaging apps/twitter/fb/reddit/hn throughout the day. I’ve set up a time limit on my phone for these apps but I always bypass it. I have a host file to redirect these websites to localhost but I’m constantly commenting these lines out. My router is configured to cut the internet connection for my devices after 8pm but I always override it. These things actually worked in the beginning, but I became so good and fast at bypassing them that they don’t work anymore.

My happiest times are when I don’t have internet at home, or I’m in the plane/train, or working at a cafe without wifi. How do I avoid all these distractions and these addictions in our always-on world?

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I used to have the same problem. I have deleted all social apps from my phone. It only has one email address used by servers to send panic messages. My development machine likewise has no apps, no email and the browser doesn't have logins for the various accounts. Then I have an old, crappy notebook running Debian which I use for emails and rare social media updates. It's a pain to use and that is exactly why I minimize my time using it. Besides, its battery is near dead so it needs to be plugged in in order to not stop after 10 minutes. Which in turn means that it is in an inconvenient position with the power pack on the floor behind heaps of stuff.

I know the foregoing is extreme. It is a form of aversion training. But it works for me. My productivity has greatly improved since I adopted the above drastic measures 3 years ago.

Blockers will not solve this problem.

Right now the pattern is something like this:

Feel bored/upset/angry --> want to get away from this unpleasant feeling --> open up a tab --> scroll

If you install a blocker you only catch yourself at when you open that tab. It's too late in the process. You've already made the decision to do it so you'll just disable the blocker.

Instead, you have to find a way to intervene earlier and deal with the feelings. It's much easier said than done. You might not even be consciously aware of them at the moment.

I got off FB by redirecting all traffic to mbasic.facebook.com. I still got those dopamine hits initially but the inconvenience of the UI eventually made me use the site less and less.

Twitter killed itself for me when it started sending me non stop notifications for tweets from people I don't even know

HN's noprocrast mode is pretty useful

I've removed apps from mobile, deactivated FB and IG accounts.

Beyond that point it is all about self-control. Can you shift your focus to some more productive task? What ever you consider to be more productive, i.e. reading, walking, etc.

There is no technological workaround to training your mind not to seek these things. So I guess effort is the answer.

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