On the problem of wasting time browsing - I stick to a rough Pomodoro style principle. Coffee in the morning while I spend 20 minutes gorging on the sweet sweet stream of fresh info from HN/Reddit/Feedly/Twitter that surfaced while I slept.<p>Anything that looks interesting but requires more than a few minutes to chew on (like this, today: FBI Paid More Than $1M to Hack San Bernardino iPhone) I bookmark.<p>Throughout the day I take 10mins break for each 50mins of work, I don't go to these sites again, I just work through what I picked out in that first 20 minutes.<p>Gets the thirst for <i>news</i> out of the way and allows you to procrastinate, in a sense, "productively".
EDIT: This piece of code wasn't used and has since been removed. This app has my stamp of approval now!<p>From the github:<p>"f.action = '<a href="http://gtmetrix.com/analyze.html?bm';"" rel="nofollow">http://gtmetrix.com/analyze.html?bm';"</a><p>... are you tracking people with this application?
I found that the timeline is the problem. It has been tweaked and reworked to make you spend as much time as possible mindlessly scrolling, liking and interacting.<p>I solved the problem by simply removing the timeline. Well, you can't actually remove it. But unfollowing everyone and everything results in this:<p><a href="https://i.imgur.com/w4JZbct.png" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/w4JZbct.png</a><p>It might not be for everyone, but it works excellent for me. And nowadays I actually complete what I came there for.
Many years ago I visited a large (junk) news site several times every day (aftonbladet.se - largest site in Sweden). I asked myself why, but couldn't tell. So I started writing down what articles I had read that had been worth ready. Not much it turned out. So I stopped visiting it, and don't regret it. But it was really hard to break the habit, like an addiction.
News feed eradicator is another useful tool along the same lines.<p><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicator-for/fjcldmjmjhkklehbacihaiopjklihlgg?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicat...</a>
A similar idea that comes to mind seeing this:<p>Every hour, you should see a quick summary of the pages you browsed through for the past hour.<p>It's easy to waste time not realizing how long you spent on AskReddit/TvTropes/whatever...<p>But if an hour of browsing flashes before your eyes and you can see nothing productive, it will wake you up.
How about a different solution to prevent the problem in the first place - A chrome extension to warn you before loading that tempting facebook link that you are about to spend (statistically) x minutes on Facebook.
This would be a great plugin for the workplace, but it appears to be laced with profanity. That's definitely going to prevent a number of people from using it. Maybe redo the language and add an "Angry Mode" that is a bit more insulting if the user wants that...<p>Also, it's clearly tracking me, but nowhere can I find anything that discloses that. I can only assume you're collecting/selling my data, so there's absolutely no way I am installing this, and I am DEFINITELY not recommending it for workplace use, because I don't know what kind of data you might be collecting.<p>If you want to make some cash on these things, add some ads. You definitely have space in that injected header to fit a banner or two.
I generated a random password for Facebook, put it in my phone, and then promptly logged out of FB in chrome.<p>I can look at facebook on my phone all I want, but the app sucks anyway and I feel like an obvious slacker if I look at my phone for a long time, or glance at it more frequently than once an hour or so.<p>Works for me.
We are starting to realise that information overload is leading to a diabetes-like condition for the mind. Solutions like these mean we haven't only diagnosed ourselves but also almost immediately fighting back.
Speaking of facebook-related chrome extensions, I recommand this work of art, suprinsigly well done to the finest details: Ponyhoof <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ponyhoof/efjjgphedlaihnlgaibiaihhmhaejjdd?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ponyhoof/efjjgphed...</a>
You should also see <a href="http://usedetox.com" rel="nofollow">http://usedetox.com</a><p>You can access the feeds on Panda <a href="http://usepanda.com" rel="nofollow">http://usepanda.com</a> instead of Facebook feed.
If you want a desktop Messenger application, check this out : <a href="http://messengerfordesktop.com" rel="nofollow">http://messengerfordesktop.com</a><p>Electron app, uses native notifications, no need to run a webpage in a browser.
This won't work because it requires user input. People are lazy, and unless you are extremely disciplined I guarantee you will stop wanting to use that input box very soon after installing.