Show HN: A Firefox extension to break the habit of typing distracting websites

[hollerith]

what I've been doing for the last 3 or 5 years (in Firefox, which is the browser under discussion in this submission) is setting the following to false:

browser.urlbar.autocomplete.enabled

browser.urlbar.suggest.bookmark

browser.urlbar.suggest.history

it does not literally stop me from typing in for example "news.ycombinator.com", but it makes it so that I have to type every last one of those 20 characters, which leaves enough time between my (impulsive) decision to act and my (fast and nasty) reward to prevent most instances of procrastination.

(then I put frequently-accessed URLs that do not cause procrastination on the Bookmarks menu and the Bookmarks toolbar.)

[vishaldpatel]

Great idea! I hadn't thought about the autocomplete feature making it easier to go to a website - but you're right! I'll try to a way to reduce it's effects in a future version.

I think it'd still be a good idea to leave auto-complete on for useful websites -- you've taken care of that by adding those sites to the bookmarks =)

[petra]

what about google's autocomplete? it's to search sites using google.

[Kronopath]

Any idea on how to do this for chrome?

[afarrell]

If you find yourself just turning this extension off or undoing the edits to your host file, you should try http://selfcontrolapp.com/ for OSX, which blocks URLs for a specified period of time without the ability to unblock them. It is open source, so in theory you could presumably go source diving to find a way around it, but that would take more effort and focus than doing whatever you are supposed to be doing.

Also, if you find yourself desperately needing this, consider the possibility that you may want to get more/regular sleep, exercise, and better food. "Sleep is for the weak" is a load of horseshit. Your brain is a part of your body and you should take care of both. This got me through the last parts of undergrad and I am very grateful to the maintainers, but I wish I'd not needed it.

EDIT: there is apparently an app http://getcoldturkey.com/ for windows. I've never tried it though.

Also, Momentum for Chrome is a good replacement for the "recent pages" new tab screen: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/momentum/laookkfkn...

[vishaldpatel]

There's no substitute for a healthy lifestyle. That said, even with one, you may find that you need a tool like this. I know I do.

I added the ability to turn it off as a feature after needing it! =). But yeah - there are heavier alternatives for heavier needs.

[EdwardDiego]

That Self Control app is good for me, thanks!

[GrinningFool]

I've tried several tools similar to this, and they're all coming from the right place. But..

1) being told that this isn't the time to do something doesn't change that I feel it's time to do something. It just annoys me.

2) There's no substitute for simply making the choice to not go to those distracting web sites.

Distractions abound, but in my experience I've found that looking to technology to solve what is fundamentally an error in my thought process is a mistake. Changing the thought process isn't the easy way to go about it but it is ultimately the only way that's going to be effective in the long term.

Tools like this don't help much with that process[1]. Instead they provide [again, in my experience] a band-aid that helps cover the wound, so to speak - they let me avoid seeing that I needed to make changes.

[1] one benefit they do provide is to make you more aware of what you're doing.

[afarrell]

> Changing the thought process isn't the easy way to go about it but it is ultimately the only way that's going to be effective in the long term.

How does one actually change the thought processes? Or begin to make progress changing the thought processes?

[NoGravitas]

I've used Leechblock, with fairly permissive settings (type a 64-bit key displayed on screen to override), and I think the annoyance is the point. It raises the psychological cost of going to a time-waster website, which makes it less desirable.

[CGamesPlay]

Related: http://blog.xkcd.com/2011/02/18/distraction-affliction-corre...

I briefly used RescueTime's functionality for this. Eventually I actually settled on a separate browser profile for distracting sites. Basically, on my work Chrome, I only have productive sites, am not logged into any distracting services, or anything like that. I can use Chrome's user switching to open my "distracting" session, but the extra effort to do that helps me maintain focus.

[ars]

Leechblock works very well for this: http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/

It counts how long you are on an "illegal" website and only blocks when you exceed the limit.

It's fully customizable for timelimits and method of blocking.

[ahstilde]

I use leech block. I can't get the timer to work for multiple sets of websites.

[itake]

I like the idea. I find blocking websites with my host file being the best tool for protecting myself against distraction.

It would be pretty neat if this was a website that I could point my blocked domains to

[vishaldpatel]

The hostfile is great! I use it for more permanent blocks. Reason I use the plugin is to be able to turn blocking on and off quickly if I need to, and as of the next version which will hopefully be available tomorrow, I'll be able to block going to sub-directories.

So, say you have a habit of typing in /r/cars ... I don't know how to block that using a hostfile, but with the plugin this won't be a problem.

[azar1]

I feel like it would work better if it took you to something like a shock website ;)

[vishaldpatel]

Haha - I tried it. It's shocking at first and annoying soon after. I figured that soft power is the way to go.

[thucydides]

Does anything similar exist for Chrome? AFAIK, default Chrome won't let you disable autocomplete in the address bar.

[vishaldpatel]

I'm sure there are - not sure how lightweight they are though. I'll release a Chrome extension fairly soon.

[J_Darnley]

Where the heck did the install button go to on Mozilla's website?

[vishaldpatel]

If you're on Firefox on the desktop, then it installs the add-on. To see which add-ons you have installed, go to Tools -> Add-ons in Firefox! Thanks for trying out the plug in :)