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[Ironic On] Internet Addiction.
Lave
regular
regular
I waste far too long posting/lurking here (oh the irony!) and I'm sure many of us here spend far too long on the internet when we should be working etc.
Obviously that makes you the worse people to ask, but maybe you can give me some ways to break that: "I can't face doing this jet - so I'll play on the web" cycle?
Currently Adblock is my best bet - using it to whitelist pages. That or editing you hosts file. But changing the habit would be better.
I'm getting close to changing my password to random letters to stop posting here*
So any ideas?
* No cheering.
Obviously that makes you the worse people to ask, but maybe you can give me some ways to break that: "I can't face doing this jet - so I'll play on the web" cycle?
Currently Adblock is my best bet - using it to whitelist pages. That or editing you hosts file. But changing the habit would be better.
I'm getting close to changing my password to random letters to stop posting here*
So any ideas?
* No cheering.
Lave on
0
Posts
Turn off your computer and leave it off. Just do it. Take it apart if you have to. Refuse to sit down at all at it until you think you've been away for long enough. Do it every day if you need to.
edit: If you absolutely have to be at the computer, don't even open your browser if you don't have to, and certainly don't go to PA or any other forum, just deny their existence. Don't let the "I have to see what's new on the forums!" mindset get you, fuck the forums, who cares? So what if you miss an entire day's events? Real life is more interesting, and it doesn't have a search function for things you miss. Close PA now and go somewhere. Don't stick around to see how the thread turns out.
It's something I want to do - but the leg work to turn Telescope gobblydigook into spectra is hughly tedious. And so my mind wanders to here.
And as I'm getting towards the end, more and more of my time will have to be at the desk. So I need to strengthen my resolve as it were.
Scholar and a Gentleman? Critical of bad science and religion? Skeptobot - Is for you!!
That's not gonna work too well.
Just in that post, you went through "Take apart the whole computer! Leave it off! Well, if you have to be at the computer though don't open the browser! ...but only if you don't have to... and don't check PA! Don't stay around on PA just to see how threads turn out!!"
You set all the good apps on your computer to this lock, and if you really, REALLY want to use them, you have to enter this extremely long passcode. The passcode is a picture, so no copy and pasting. the locks are on timers, so you can set them for hours and hours.
though, anything you set up can just as easily be cracked by you. you really need self control here. sometimes, it's good to surf the web and blow off steam if you are stuck on a work problem.
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
Scholar and a Gentleman? Critical of bad science and religion? Skeptobot - Is for you!!
frankly, i dont even remember what it was called. sorry.
but we'll miss you over at G and T, Lave. who else has a frantic looking man from Superman as his avatar?
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
The problem is when you do work that actually requires thought. When you run into problems and are sitting in front of a computer it is just to easy to just check your mail, see if any of your friends are on instant messaging, check the forums for new topics etc, and suddenly an hour has passed. I rationalize this to myself by saying that science can not be rushed, and there is some thruth to this. When dealing with hard problems, taking a break is often productive. It is true that I could probably be more productive, but who knows?
As for your situation, you just have to keep the end in sight all the time. I suppose you do science because you feel that wonderous feeling of discovering something no one else has found? Keeping this in minds helps with the boring stuff, and you have to find the motivation yourself. Doing a Phd is very much about taking responsibilty about your own work. Few other careers offer the amount of freedom science does, but with that freedom comes a responsibilty to actually produce something. It is a privilege getting to discover the secrets of the universe, don't abuse that privilege.
Ok, this got a bit philosophical, but it is something I feel strongly about. As for practical advice, if you really feel that it interferes with your productivity, maybe you could try setting a timer? Five minutes of pleasure time on the net each hour at work or something?
Set yourself tasks, like "I'm going to do 30 minutes of work without using the Internet once" then gradually increase the difficulty. Using some fancy program to bar the 'net is just going to mean you have the same problem every time you're on a PC.
Wow Lodbrock. Love that post. Thats got me down to a tee - and spot on with the philosophy. Cheers man. W.r.t. the practical advice: hell at the minute 30 mins on, 30 mins off would be an improvement. Half way slump as they say.
I think the problem is motivational. And I think to get that back I need to lose distractions like this place. (
And cheers cooljammer - at least our avatars are together on this one. I will miss blowing my top about ads in games every couple of months though.
EDIT: Very true sponge cake. It's the app equivalent of refreshing lifehacker.com ten times a day to see new ways to be productive. Who would've thought real problems require real solutions!
EDIT: EDIT: As I'm currently deadlining it - I'll see you in half an hour!
EDIT:EDIT:EDIT: I'm back 32 mins later - by god - it could just work
Scholar and a Gentleman? Critical of bad science and religion? Skeptobot - Is for you!!
I had friends who didn't eat solid food for a week for Lent, and I can't stay off of forums or off of AIM for a day. Why??!?!?!?
Success! If you set your mind to a solid guideline it's much easier to follow. I think a lot of people have this problem in college wherein nobody is saying "you must work from 9 to 5" so you have trouble creating your own guidelines to work in, it becomes too easy to just put things off.
Yeah. It's pathetic to be like this when I'm in my twenties. But I can't cope without routine. I'm just going to have to face it and build up to not being so procrastastic.
30mins on, 10mins off - is a terrible ratio - but a decent place to start. Just to get a routine more than anything. This could be a good motivational self-help thread - cos Shazkar Shadowstorm proves I'm not alone.
You're all great.
Scholar and a Gentleman? Critical of bad science and religion? Skeptobot - Is for you!!
Right Click Firefox Header > Customize > Drag And Drop "Bookmarks Toolbar Items" into your "Customize Toolbar" window
It's an easy thing to do when you start and end work. You don't have to reorganize the Favorites or anything.
It's just a friendly reminder that I shouldn't be pjlaying when I'm doing work. Sometimes out of habit I'll open up a new tab and click Penny Arcade or some other link, which was my primary source of distraction.
Like has been already mentioned, if you make easy tasks more difficult it makes you less prone to spend alot of time doing them. One of my culprits is Firefox, it makes surfing so ridiculously effortless that sometimes I purposefully switch to an old version of IE with all the security options enabled to slow down my browsing and make it more annoying and tedious. Since you don't have Windows apparently, im not sure what you could substitute besides perhaps disabling some of the more time saving features in whatever browser you are using.
So yeah. It's all about self control.
(I'll check the thread in thirty!)
Scholar and a Gentleman? Critical of bad science and religion? Skeptobot - Is for you!!
I really hope thats why your jailed.
You know, I have to admit, it did cross my mind. But I'm such a loveable awesome dude. And without me this place would fall apart.. well, no, I wish. But seriously, you do build up semi-real-frendship style things here, and they do draw you in....
Scholar and a Gentleman? Critical of bad science and religion? Skeptobot - Is for you!!
Scholar and a Gentleman? Critical of bad science and religion? Skeptobot - Is for you!!
The mods don't give a shit about you.
And you wouldn't be "wasting their time". It's not like the Mods hold forum trials or anything. They pretty much just taser the shit out of people and throw them straight into a jail cell.
I feel like I should be playing video games now, not talking to you dickweeds*
*Do not mean this. The dickweeds part. The rest of it, I do mean. But you are not dickweeds.
Just curious but is dickweed essentially a euphemism for pubic hair?
Paper due? I'm writin' it on the shitty library computers in the uncomfortable chairs. In fact, that's what I'm doing tomorrow. Because I can't bring myself to finish my 10 page research paper now.
To my credit, I have already worked on it a fair amount today.
But yeah. I'm always wary of bring up PA someplace other than home because I fear the COCKS DICKS LOL.
Although we will miss you back in G&T.
I'm writing up my CompSci PhD thesis at the moment, and I'm having exactly the same problem.
I don't mind jotting down bullet points for my thesis or coding new features into my software, but I'm now up to the stage where 90% of my time is spent turning the bullet-points into sensible (and properly referenced) sentences, and doing all the tiny coding jobs I've ignored up until now. It's hard to resist the urge to go visit a few forums instead of working.
I really don't have an answer other than to set deadlines. Say "I'm going to do X, Y and Z today", then don't stop until they are finished. Still, it's hard to know how long the jobs will take until they are done, so that doesn't always work.
I've also tried editing my PC's hosts file to redirect PA, Kotaku and Slashdot to 127.0.0.1, but I find I procrastinate in other ways anyway.
At least you can console yourself with the knowledge that it's something every PhD student goes through. You can't concentrate on a single subject for 3-6 years, and not run into the problem.