No love for 8aweek? Their focus purely on the net was more appealing to me than rescuetime.
PG: Disconnecting Distraction
11–20 of 208 posts
Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction
#12I think part of the problem for me is having gone through public school. When you're 13, sneaking out of the lunch room to read Slashdot in the library is literally the most productive thing you could be doing during that time period. Even in high school I would have learned more by reading Reddit, had it existed, than by doing most of the homework I was assigned. The basic issue is that when you're in school you're…
Why are you blaming external factors instead of yourself or your personality?
Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction
#13I like the separate computer concept. Is there a way to make that more practical for people who are developing websites on their primary computer? I'd like to be able to get at the websites I own and the core documentation at least. I feel like you could co-opt some of these child-safe browsing tools to only let you on to the sites that were necessary for work. Maybe this could be the next step for rescuetime--only l…
Also what if you use Google to find answers to your coding-related questions? That could take you to any random website.
Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction
#14that's actually what i liked about Linux back when i first used it. it had this "get working" feeling, perhaps because the OS was so lean
A decade ago or so when the web wasn't quite as distracting games were my biggest distraction. On my main machine I dual booted Windows and Linux. Linux was for work and Windows was for games (Quake/Starcraft mostly).
It was extremely helpful that I could very visibly go from one mode to the other. My mind would totally shift into a different gear as I made the decision to choose Linux or Windows at the lilo prompt.
Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction
#15It just happened to me. Ran into a problem while programming and fired up HN and started reading PG's article. Now how do I get out of this time sink again?
Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction
#16That sounds like a really, really good idea. Thank you.
Perhaps we can even make it work with only one computerL
Not the same thing. The idea is to physically move your body far enough away from one or the other. You can only do one at a time. Your reptilian brain must sense that something is wrong (or right). Flicking a switch while still sitting on your butt isn't enough.
Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction
#17I do the same, except that I usually use my iPhone as my "distraction" PC. Even better, because it's more tiring to use.
Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction
#18I like the separate computer concept. Is there a way to make that more practical for people who are developing websites on their primary computer? I'd like to be able to get at the websites I own and the core documentation at least. I feel like you could co-opt some of these child-safe browsing tools to only let you on to the sites that were necessary for work. Maybe this could be the next step for rescuetime--only l…
Also what if you use Google to find answers to your coding-related questions? That could take you to any random website.
I think restricting to Google and Wikipedia (or sites directly accessed through Google or Wikipedia) would cover 99% of my productive use of the internet.
Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction
#19I think part of the problem for me is having gone through public school. When you're 13, sneaking out of the lunch room to read Slashdot in the library is literally the most productive thing you could be doing during that time period. Even in high school I would have learned more by reading Reddit, had it existed, than by doing most of the homework I was assigned. The basic issue is that when you're in school you're…
Why are you blaming external factors instead of yourself or your personality?
Because I'm not a brain in a vat.
Re: PG: Disconnecting Distraction
#20I like the separate computer concept. Is there a way to make that more practical for people who are developing websites on their primary computer? I'd like to be able to get at the websites I own and the core documentation at least. I feel like you could co-opt some of these child-safe browsing tools to only let you on to the sites that were necessary for work. Maybe this could be the next step for rescuetime--only l…
Also what if you use Google to find answers to your coding-related questions? That could take you to any random website.
This is an interesting business idea: a search engine that is free of distractions, for coders.