[pkghost]

A 6-minute Bob Newhart clip from MadTV that is guaranteed[1] to fix all your problems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow0lr63y4Mw (tl;dw: stop it!)

> But the work is tedious enough that I am too tried in the evening to do something interesting.

Same; sounds normal.

> Have you been able to detach yourself from the constant flow of information and focus on your own stuff?

I put the xbox in the closet for while and made it just a little harder to indulge the impulse. Don't tell yourself you have to swear off podcasts or HN or whatever forever—just ask yourself if you'd be willing to try a brief but significant break, and make sure you have some ideas for what you'll replace it with.

I also rarely spend free time programming. Once in a while I'll get an idea and the motivation to do so, but I find that if I spend a significant chunk of my productive/creative energy during the day on work, I'm much happier if I then spend the rest of the day socializing, exercising, doing stuff around the house—basically anything not in front of the computer.

Habit change can be daunting, but the hardest part is often recognizing something that you want to change, and you're already there! Good luck with the rest :)

1) Not.