How do I deal with distractions by checking websites?

I am an instructor in a university. For job promotion I need to publish some papers. Usually if I start a software or a research I like to complete it.

But nowadays, when I sit behind the computer and open the internet instead to be focused on research, my time is spent to check websites.

For example if I ask a question here or other SE sites, I may several times check for new comments and updates, or to elaborate my questions and answers.

Or I frequently check some news websites. On news I'd better don't leave a comment otherwise I would check my comment several times to see how many votes I received and who replied my comment....

Anyway, I want to be focused on a research, what is your advise?

Ahmad

Posted 2014-10-11T06:41:17.007

Reputation: 179

The question is not duplicate, my source of distraction are websites and for the post you address is email. the In that post, the accepted answer also explain how to avoid Email checking..., but I accept while it was not in the question, other offered solutions for other source of distraction which cover my purpose. they should have been under this question in fact. – Ahmad – 2014-10-12T12:51:21.873

Answers

You can attack your problem in two ways: technologically or psychologically.

Technologically, your browser will likely have some kind of blocking capability, possibly using add-ins. For instance, Firefox offers LeechBlock (homepage here). You can specify which sites to block, or that you only want to block them during specific times (e.g.: block all news sites between 9am and 6pm, but allow access outside) or that you want to be able to access them for a certain time per day (e.g.: allow access to *.stackexchange.com for 30 minutes per day). Other browsers may have similar capabilities - or you may even consider switching browsers to have access to such a feature.

Psychologically, you could set a timer if you really need to research something on SE.com, and force yourself to shut down your browser when the timer goes off after, e.g., 10 minutes. A kind of "reverse pomodoro". I personally find it very hard to resist the temptation to "just check one more link", and suddenly, 20 more minutes have elapsed...

Stephan Kolassa

Posted 2014-10-11T06:41:17.007

Reputation: 2 107