How To Waste Less Time Checking News and Social Media

Abi Noda
Abi Noda
Jul 24, 2017 · 2 min read
Illustration by RiftRyu

A few years ago I got really fed up with the amount of time I spent each day checking the news and social media.

I thought “if I just block out all these distractions, I’ll get so much more done!”

So I deactivated my Facebook and installed a browser plugin to block distracting websites. It worked at first — I’d try to check sites like Twitter and get stopped. But soon I found myself going around it by using my phone or just disabling the plugin.

To prevent this, I setup my wireless router to block websites for any device in my home where I worked.

Now I was blocked no matter what device or browser I used. My friends would come over and complain about not being able to check Instagram. If I wanted to unblock a website, I had to wait 15 minutes for the settings to take effect.

I noticed that as I repeatedly got denied, my attempts to visit the websites decreased. My bad habits seemed to be fading.

But then I noticed a problem. Every time I blocked a distraction, another would soon fill its place. I blocked Twitter, but I got sucked into Hacker News. I blocked Hacker News, but then I began checking the New York Times. Later I began following ESPN.

My list of blocked websites grew to over 30 websites including Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Hacker News, NPR, New York Times, LinkedIn, MarketWatch, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, CBS, Chicago Tribune…

No matter how many websites I blocked, I found new stuff to waste my time.

Fast forward a couple years. I was starting a new software company and was completely consumed by it. There was so much work to do, and every day was exhilarating. I noticed that I wasn’t checking these sites anymore even though I wasn’t blocking them.

If you want to waste less time, stop trying to block out distractions and instead fully immerse yourself in the things that are important to you. Then the distractions don’t stand a chance.

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