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- Hacker News
- I had the exact same problem with LeechBlock override, so I built talysman.app, which is basically Brick (the phone app) but for desktop. If your problem is solely on your phone, just use Brick, same principle but on the phone.
The key point is that you can only unblock when a physical usb drive (paired with the app) is inserted.
I've found this is the "just right" amount of friction. Too much friction (like impossible to override) and you have to be careful about when you turn it on, in case you genuinely need Reddit or YouTube or something. Too little friction and you just always override. But having to walk over to the next room to override is perfect.
by yauneyz - > /* UNCOMMENT BELOW to force a boring system font (might break some web icons) *
Firefox already includes a better version of this: Settings → Fonts → Advanced settings → untick Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of your selections above.
It makes the web much better. Firefox even includes a list of icon font names that will be permitted (pref browser.display.use_document_fonts.icon_font_allowlist) to minimise icon font breakage, though I chose to block font loading altogether and there’s not often much trouble from it (and most of it is Google’s, and Material Icons’ ligation technique is in practice so dumb, achieving results quite the opposite of the original reason for the technique in an entirely predictable way).
> I need colors for code
Quite honestly, try doing without it for a while and see how it goes. Make a new theme that’s limited to just black on white, with regular/bold/italic font styles (me, I did keywords bold and comments and macro stuff italic and that was all), and use it for a week. Then consider if you want colours, and how to add them. Me, I went to strings red and comments green and numbers blue and not much else, though it’s grown a little over time. Others add greys, and perhaps background shading.
by chrismorgan - Using newpipe instead of YouTube helps a lot. It makes YouTube pretty boring. Plus you can just download the few useful videos that you use for reference over and over and only browse through thoseby krupan
- I also need a solution for my addiction. I was thinking of blocking all addictive apps in my main (phone) account and set up a kids account for myself where all the drugs are installed. Then I need to ask myself for screen time. I hope this is annoying enough to not switch accounts constantly. If that doesn't work, I need to give another person the control over the screen time.by _ink_
- How many of those things do you really need? As in how bad would it be if you fully deleted those accounts completely?by IanCal
- ask a relative that you visit from time to time what's their favourite book on their shelf and why. This way, you at least make sure that they would not toss the book in a whim. ask them to write the parental control PIN on one or two pieces of paper and then type it on the phone screen to lock it. ask them to store the piece/s of paper in their favourite book/s.
bow to never bother them about the piece/s of paper unlesls you are stranded in the middle of the ocean and need to use the phone. When you visit them, you might unlock the phone and repeat the process
- I deleted almost every app on my phone. I use reddit a bit and hn, but that's all the social stuff i do. Hell i use a pixel and disabled YouTube. It's a bit of a challenge at fist, but much much better after you adjustby walt_grata
- Man...reading that post gave me a similar feeling to when I hear someone playing meditation bowls. I tell you, I've taken almost the entirely same approach over the last couple of years, slowly adding (i.e. removing) more and more things in the same way you did. It started with blocking sites at the Terminal level and uninstalling distracting apps (or using time limiters). The one thing I hadn't done, which I just did thanks to your recommendation, is the grayscale. Aside from the realization that I was giving up so much time and energy, I needed to steal more of my time/energy back because of a personal project I started last year. Though it definitely gets easier and easier over time I've had to remain vigilant because I quickly realized that it wasn't a certain site or app that was necessarily drawing me in. Often it was just "doing something" on the phone or computer. Even if I blocked something I'd just aim the browser for something else. That was when I added a lot of little psychological tactics to reduce the feelings that led to the behavior.
Another thing, the thing that really stuck out to me was this approach aimed at "boredom." I'd recently seen that video you mentioned with Arthur Brooks. In fact, last year he had another called "You Need to Be Bored. Here's Why." posted on Harvard Business Review's YouTube channel. So getting comfortable with "boring" really can be a viable approach.
by shant_extry - Blocking recommendations is the one thing I'd add to this list. You can easily do so with uBlock Origin, and it's made the biggest difference for me.
Water still finds cracks, but it's about reducing the likelihood and increasing the time between binges (so that they mentally register as necessarily intentional and abnormal)
by ikesau - I wish the uBO element picker would make it easier to block elements by their content now that pretty much every websites uses optimized CSS with random class names that will change with each update.by account42
- Some more good advice:
Turn off your YouTube watch history. This disables video suggestions when you open the website or the app.
by ViktorRay - I did similar for my work PC but for the browser: turn off all the conveniences. No history in the bar so there's no way way to lazily navigate to a website, I have to manually type in the URL. Saved passwords and cookies? Nope! closing the browser wipes history.by MisterTea
- its suggestions are the best way to get me to leave. not that i find myself there often, or stay long anyway. hn on the other hand...by baron3dl
- Useful: <https://lawrencehook.com/rys/>by teddyh
- Or don't login. It will still learn about you so you don't always receive the blank main page. My browser is set to clear that data, yet with a single video being played the algo is already suggesting more content.by dylan604
- I go even further and don't use the YouTube website much at all. When someone shares a YouTube link it goes straight to mpv which streams the video (and just the video) with the help of yt-dlp. No auto-playing the next video. No suggested videos. No comments. No dark patterns. No distractions.by account42
- Or only use the subscriptions page, and never visit the home page.
Getting only the stuff you've curated is way better than the algorithm.
by zdw - > Turn off your YouTube watch history
Just to add to that, it's a two step process: disable saving new history, and then clear all history
I estimate my watch time dropped by half per day the first time I did that. Then I started curating my subscriptions better, and watching from that.
by drivers99 - On my smartphone I'm not using Google Play Services so when I open the app, all I get is the search box.
I told a friend this and told him this flips the script on the Algo. Now instead of YT telling you what to watch, YOU are in control of what YOU want to watch.
We have to start breaking this cycle somehow. This is a great way to do it.
- YouTube's only goal is to make more money. Most YouTubers' only goal is to get more views. Sure it can be useful but that's a perfect excuse to live on forever. People were fine before YouTube, and you can learn anything from words an images.
I recommend taking a page out of the FSF's book and just straight up not using it, because it doesn't respect its users.
by Gecko4072 - >, and you can learn anything from words an images.
A lot of info on Youtube is not available in alternative forms such as books or blogs with just words and images.
E.g. A random person uploads a video on how he repaired my particular washing machine by isolating the relay that broke. It's not in blog form because the guy is not an HTML expert or WordPress user. Instead, he simply used his smartphone to record a 10 minute video of what he did and uploaded it to Youtube.
Was I "fine" before Youtube?!? In the past with that type of situation, I would have spent $1000 on a new washing machine instead of spending $2 for a new relay part and soldering it myself. There was no equivalent resource available to show me how to DIY repair it. Trying to avoid $1000 by calling an appliance repairman wouldn't help because these days, they charge a $150 trip & diagnostic fee just to show up ... and then in the end, they say the electronics board that's fried is discontinued so they can't get the part which means the only the only remedy is to buy a new washing machine. So I would end up paying a guy $150 to tell me to pay another $1000 for a new washing machine... for a total of $1150. Youtube helps in avoiding all that. As a knowledge base for DIY learning how to repair random stuff around the house, there is no alternative to Youtube.
by jasode - Here are some things I try:
Turn off Notifications.
Turn off location services except when navigating or calling the taxi.
Uninstall as many apps as possible, use browser.
Use adblocking anti tracking browser (I use Duck, alt suggestions welcome).
Report unknown / unwanted senders as spam.
That said, I am a NEWS ADDICT. There are four world leaders whose downfall I eagerly await, and frequently check the news for this ;-) .. you might be able to guess three but not the fourth.
- Why are people not guessing
Putin
Trump
Xi
Modi
- > Uninstall as many apps as possible, use browser.
or don't! instead use
Peel (Geckoview)
https://github.com/mazzz1y/peel
WebSpace
https://github.com/theoden8/webspace_app
Native Alpha
by XzetaU8 - Putting in blockers and the like helps, but what I've found worked best was to consider this quote by Anthony DeMello:
"When you fight something, you're tied to it forever. As long as you're fighting it, you’re giving it power."
When I learned to stop feeling bad/guilty/thinking this was a problem to solve and just let my mind drift, I found that my mind naturally learned when it was disciplined work time vs. browse the internet time. Personally, I noticed that when I didn't have any artificial restriction, I was less inclined to waste time on those things.
In practice: "oh, my mind doesn't want to do that other thing right now but it does want to go look at this thing; let it." The more I've loosened my grip, the less distractions have affected my productivity.
by rglover - It’s like those diet commercials from the 90s:
“I simply eat more and the weight just falls off!” Showing pictures of chocolate cake and burgers.
You’re gonna eat more: Milkshakes, pasta, French fries!
You’re gonna lose more weight.
And you’re gonna feel great.
After only 19 payments for $24.99!
Call now
by fxd - The mantra I've heard is "resist and replace." It's not enough to fight a bad habit, you have to (learn to) replace it with something constructive (i.e. fill the void).by endemic
- I find the polar opposite works better for me. Fight, with all your might!
You have to practice taking a step back, assesing the current situation and determining what's best for you. Ideally do this every time you feel like mindlessly doomscrolling. You'll get better at it.
by imp0cat - as fun as that sounds, my experience has been the polar opposite. if I let my mind drift, it's going to get cheap dopamine kicks from stupid YouTube videos all day.
You have an army of behavioral psychologists at Alphabet and Meta working against you; it's only fair to fight back.
by NikxDa - For me, adaptive friction has been very helpful - allow access to distracting apps/sites, but make them progressively harder to use.
For phones, ScreenZen is great at this. Makes you pause before visiting an app or site, and you can configure the pause to grow each time you use it. You can also set a timeout on the app. Very flexible settings.
For desktop, I recently built a free browser extension called MooBlock - it's similar to ScreenZen in that it adds a forced pause before you reach a distracting site. But once you reach the site, a herd of cows start walking all over your screen to make the website less appealing.
It's available in both the Chrome and Firefox extension stores. Hoping to make an Android version later this year too.
Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/mooblock/eanbagjehd...
Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/mooblock/?utm...