Ask PG: Disconnecting Distraction progress?

#1

Post by hella » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 6:25 AM UTC

I just reread Disconnectinb Distraction and saw this:

Note: The strategy described at the end of this essay didn’t work. It would work for a while, and then I’d gradually find myself using the Internet on my work computer. I’m trying other strategies now, but I think this time I’ll wait till I’m sure they work before writing about them.

1) Thank you for the openness and honesty. It's somehow comforting to know the greats suffer from distraction, too.

2) What are your current thoughts about and strategy against distraction?

Re: Ask PG: Disconnecting Distraction progress?

#2

Post by aik » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 8:14 AM UTC

Addendum questions I have in addition to the above questions:

1) Do you find it silly or irritating being called a 'great'?

2) Do you find yourself in disagreement with the usage of such a word describing yourself? Are you unable to relate?

Re: Ask PG: Disconnecting Distraction progress?

#3

Post by derrida » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 8:22 AM UTC

A little off topic, but I was wondering if you do away with any sort of GUI on your primary desktop and only use emacs, does that get you a distraction free environment?

Re: Ask PG: Disconnecting Distraction progress?

#4

Post by zyfo » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 10:07 AM UTC

Here's how a couple of guys deal with it:

Randall Munroe (creator of xkcd): http://blog.xkcd.com/2011/02/18/distraction-affliction-corre...

Alex Payne (early Twitter employee): http://al3x.net/2009/09/14/my-get-back-to-work-hack.html

Please fill in with more examples. Preferably people who've accomplished something, as opposed to random students who managed to get their homework done in time.

Re: Ask PG: Disconnecting Distraction progress?

#5

Post by tep » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 10:13 AM UTC

I experience this problem on a daily basis, too. A few days ago I decided to set up another user account on Ubuntu. That one, I use from 9 to 5. On this account only work related programs can be used (but no e-mail client!). What's more, I installed Leechblock[1] for Firefox. It blocks every website that is not Wikipedia or university-related.

Hopefully this will work out in the long term.

[1]https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/leechblock/

Re: Ask PG: Disconnecting Distraction progress?

#6

Post by tomjen3 » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 10:23 AM UTC

derrida wrote: post #3

A little off topic, but I was wondering if you do away with any sort of GUI on your primary desktop and only use emacs, does that get you a distraction free environment?

The problem is that I would still need to read api documents, find solutions to issuse etc.

Re: Ask PG: Disconnecting Distraction progress?

#7

Post by BasDirks » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 10:35 AM UTC

It really depends on your job, but for me the key is: stay at your command-line. When you need to do some thinking or planning, don't open up your browser immediately to see what others say.

Re: Ask PG: Disconnecting Distraction progress?

#8

Post by fluidcruft » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 4:08 PM UTC

tep wrote: post #5

I experience this problem on a daily basis, too. A few days ago I decided to set up another user account on Ubuntu. That one, I use from 9 to 5. On this account only work related programs can be used (but no e-mail client!). What's more, I installed Leechblock[1] for Firefox. It blocks every website that is not Wikipedia or university-related. Hopefully this will work out in the long term. [1] https://addons.mozilla.…

Why is there nothing as annoyingly effective as leechblock for chrome? Why? It's almost as if Google prefers you to get lost in the web, rather than work.

Re: Ask PG: Disconnecting Distraction progress?

#9

Post by hollerith » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 4:40 PM UTC

tomjen3 wrote: post #6

derrida wrote: post #3

A little off topic, but I was wondering if you do away with any sort of GUI on your primary desktop and only use emacs, does that get you a distraction free environment?

The problem is that I would still need to read api documents, find solutions to issuse etc.

Exactly: even when there was no X windowing system installed on my Linux and the only browser I have access to was Lynx, I found myself using Lynx to procrastinate.

ADDED. Actually, the proper way to think about anti-procrastination is "willpower conservation", and not having a graphical browser installed or not having software on the computer that allows the watching of videos does conserve significant willpower when one is trying to get work done.

Re: Ask PG: Disconnecting Distraction progress?

#10

Post by zyfo » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 7:37 PM UTC

fluidcruft wrote: post #8

tep wrote: post #5

I experience this problem on a daily basis, too. A few days ago I decided to set up another user account on Ubuntu. That one, I use from 9 to 5. On this account only work related programs can be used (but no e-mail client!). What's more, I installed Leechblock[1] for Firefox. It blocks every website that is not Wikipedia or university-related. Hopefully this will work out in the long term. [1] https://addons.mozilla.…

Why is there nothing as annoyingly effective as leechblock for chrome? Why? It's almost as if Google prefers you to get lost in the web, rather than work.

Of course, time on the web and adword clicks are highly correlated!

Jokes aside, there's always StayFocusd: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/laankejkbhbdhmip...