Help! I squander hours online every day, and I need to cut way, way back.
When it comes to reading blogs and forums, my self-discipline flies out the window along with all those hours. As a first step, I think it would help if I had a clear picture of exactly how much time I'm spending on which sites. I've read some reviews of RescueTime, and it sounds like just what I need. Does anybody here use RescueTime or some other program to track your time online?
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Posted 1 year ago #
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I used a firefox add on called "online time tracker", keeps track of your active web browsing and is always there in the bottom right hand corner ... very illuminating! I don't have it on my laptop at the moment, it was on my pc, and I am much less aware of time wasted online ... have to go by my sore bum instead lol
Posted 1 year ago # -
I think it would be easier to determine the amount of online time you think is reasonable, set a timer, then stop when the timer goes off. You could also cut down on the sites you visit by 1/3 or whatever is appropriate for you. I did that a while back and it really helps. I still spend too much time online, though, but I'm working on a plan to control it. Oddly enough, I was just taking a break from writing it out when I read your post.
Posted 1 year ago # -
i recently carved a number of blogs ruthlessly from my google reader.
it was almost as good as deleting my twitter and faceboook accounts!
it is difficult to limit internet useage....because the internet is so limitless and we are infovores.Posted 1 year ago # -
I use a regular kitchen timer, set for 5 minutes, and any time it goes off and i'm playing around online, I either get back to my job or get up and do a chore. It doesn't limit total time but it keeps me from sitting down "for just a minute" and not getting back up. (luckily my partner has hyperfocus on his job and the noise doesn't bother me - I also have an electronic timer that can be set to vibrate but it gets stolen for other uses all the time.)
Posted 1 year ago # -
I think you're onto something with figuring out what you spend your time doing first, THEN deciding how to cut it down. I mean, for all you know, you might end up realizing you're wasting LESS time than you thought - sometimes it's easy to feel like you spend all day doing sweet FA, but in reality, you did get stuff done, just not in a linear, start-to-finish way. And time spent online is often arranged rather non-linearly.
Another idea would be to keep a log for a couple weeks (one week is too short a time to allow for adequate sampling). Track what you did that day: not just tasks you finished, but the progress you made on tasks you didn't finish, and what other things you did. Also make a note of how much of your online time was spent CREATING content - eg writing this post. I often feel like I've messed around all day, but then I am writing it all down at night and I realize I may not have crossed anything off my to-dos but I wrote like 2K words over a number of posts etc (good bad, unedited whatever, point is, I was being a lot more creative/active than I thought).
A third possibility is of course to cull the memberships to sites, forums, social networking etc that are less than vital to you, or at least scale back on updating. For example, if all told, your facebook is mainly so old classmates can find you and the like, no need to update it frequently. This is something you can do even before you track your online time with RescueTime.
Another tip: if you have something to do that you know would really suffer from interruptions of the 'oh i'll just check my email/look up the name of that one hit wonder/peek at the google news frontpage', turn off the computer (or just sleep it). A blank screen that doesn't react when the mouse is nudged is more likely to thwart any such impulses :P Just don't start off trying to do that for every task; at least at first, stick to doing this for important or very time-sensitive tasks.
One thing I wouldn't bother with is what JuliaJayne suggested in the first bit of her message (sorry JuliaJayne - not personal ;-)) about deciding how much time to spend online then set a timer and stick to it. TBH from the way you describe your situation this would be doomed to failure, and consequently would do nothing more than making you feel even more frustrated and/or discouraged. The problem with this is that in physical uncluttering terms (ie when you're decluttering Stuff), it's like trying to organize your stuff without first looking through what you have and taking out what you no longer want: you're bound to over- or under-estimate how much on-time you need, and you won't know anything about HOW to spend that time; for instance, after careful examination you might realize that the best time to go online is actually at a different time of day than you are going now, or that you would be better off spending it in bursts of a few minutes, therefore you decide to move the computer to another room for easier access frequently, stuff like that.
Hope this helps :-)
Posted 1 year ago # -
Not offended Mili, I just prefer a more simple approach. A person who feels they spend to much time on the internet could spend even more time analyzing exactly how they are spending their time on the internet. I see no difference between watching too much tv and spending too much time on the internet. Both can be huge time-sinks if we let it, so avoiding that is as simple as exercising a little self-discipline. :)
Posted 1 year ago # -
Thanks for all your ideas. I really appreciate everybody's input. I realize I didn't give you very much info about my online life. I'm a music researcher, so I'm at it most days and some evenings. I'm also fanatically interested in ways to improve my productivity and the quality and depth of my research work, as well as my personal life... which leads me to read a lot of blogs like Zen Habits, Unclutterer, Dumb Little Man, and the like. One intriguing link leads to another, and off I go like a bloodhound, whether it's a music-related trail or otherwise. But there's been a lot of "otherwise" creeping in and eating up my time, and I need to know exactly how much. I've tried all kinds of timers, but that method doesn't work in this situation.
I've downloaded the free two-week trial of RescueTime. It seems to be amazingly simple... nothing much to do on my end except set my own category tags and priorities for the various sites I regularly visit. The program automatically assigns tags, but I can review and change any of them. For the first week, I'm just going to let the program gather data, with log and various graphs. Then I'll review and figure out what changes to make in my time allotments during the second week.
Meanwhile, if any of you are interested you can watch a short video tour of the program on the RescueTime website.
Posted 1 year ago # -
i am positive there was a firefox add-on for this.
you could set times on it and it would turn off the internet ....and then switch back on again at the pre-set time.
to change it was a bit fiddlesome.
so once it was set, i would get cracking on my offline work without thinking about re-setting it for another ten minues. or so.Posted 1 year ago # -
i have used "leech block" https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/leechblock/ (a firefox addon) to define how much time i spend on certain sites, as a maximum per day or hour. it warns you and then blocks the site if you reach your limit. it´s not easy to use at first (i was overmotivated at first, blocked myself completely and needed an important information, grrr) but after tuning the rules it was quite good. until i found out to use google chrome as my browser ;)
Posted 1 year ago # -
It depends on the person entirely; is it work and/or leisure? If my time on-line was purely recreational, I think I'd start from determining an amount of time that I figure is reasonable, then set a timer to go off once the minutes are up. If it would go off "too soon" every time, maybe there's more to it and I would have to analyse in depth why I'd feel that way. Do I do something useful like learn things while there?
Personally, I almost never surf without purpose and always have my tentacles out for possibilities to challenge myself, learn new things, get ideas for home-making (food, interior decoration, gifts, you name it) and hobbies. I much rather surf this way than watch some brainless tv show that would get me hooked for weeks and so it is now mostly used with a clear purpose - watch a movie - to then be turned off afterwards.
Ella, is it true that you surf recreationally? Then I'd try with defining a reasonable amount of time and try to stick to it. "Failure" will happen from time to time (which is why I'm spelling it "failure", not failure), but I'm positive you will be able to change in a direction you like better, at least from what I've read about your sleeping habits; those are impressive! Good luck.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm afraid I spend time on the computer to avoid doing things I don't want to do! Sometimes I find myself champing at the bit, because I really don't want to be on the computer any more, but I am in total avoidance. :(
Posted 1 year ago # -
Claycat: That's me all over!
ninakk: My web surfing is interwoven with my work/research time online, so it's difficult to impossible to separate them. That's where I thought a tracking app might help. Kinda like keeping a food journal in order to get a clear view of where your diet needs to be improved.
I got the idea from reading chiwi's hobby thread and the warnings about spending too much online time on gaming. Then I searched Unclutterer and found Erin's article about time trackers:
http://unclutterer.com/2009/09/23/free-time-tracking-applications/
...and the link to LifeHacker's "Five Best":
http://lifehacker.com/5362829/five-best-time+tracking-applications
RescueTime seems like a safe bet for my first test. I might try one or two of the other apps after the 2-week RescueTime trial is up.
Posted 1 year ago # -
@Claycat: Same here.
I can see a timer working for some people, but it was hard for me. I didn't know how long to set the timer for, and I found myself ignoring it easily. What I feel I need to find out are my larger thought patterns that keep me hooked on the internet...like for example, I tend to feel compelled to comment on everything that I have an opinion on, which could pretty much go on forever. I'm trying to learn that nothing will happen if I don't comment on everything.
And, it takes me way too long to write comments. I just installed the TimeTracker on my Firefox, and I'm running at 9 minutes for this comment already. Yeah...that really does bring it into the light, huh/
It's also difficult because being on the internet feels more pleasant than many other things I could ostensibly be doing. Until my eyes start to hurt, that is.
Posted 1 year ago # -
This is an interesting thread :)
Ella, it seems like one problem is that work and play surfing are all mixed up. If you could separate them out somehow then maybe you could reward yourself with play surfing. I love to surf the Internet, I think it can be a useful and educational hobby, I love to follow links and find new stuff to think about. But it doesn't work well when it's used for avoidance, and if I stay up too late doing it then I get grumpy. If it's taking up too much time then you should identify the problem and work out some fixes. It's weird, I've noticed for me it depends on the weather, my mood, what else is happening in life, and when we go camping I wean myself off the Internet, so sometimes a little break can be healthy. Why don't you try something like Instapaper or Readitlater? That way your fun surfing can be chunked together so it doesn't interfere with work surfing. You can even send stuff to your Kindle if you have one, which means you can take your web reading offline if you want to, less temptation :)Posted 1 year ago # -
The RescueTime program has been running 27/7 for one week, and so far I am LOVING it! The daily "dashboard" of my usage is fascinating. I had a very skewed notion of where my time was going, but now I know exactly. The program collects data of ALL the time spent using my computer, whether online or offline, and tracks the details, including working on a Word doc or an Excel spreadsheet, or watching a DVD. This past week I've just been letting the program run in the background just tracking my usual usage. Now I'll analyze the data and tinker with the settings for the coming week. I'll report back with the results when the 2-week trial is over.
Posted 1 year ago # -
ella -
I had a very skewed notion of where my time was going, but now I know exactlySo it turns out you're NOT wasting time as much as you thought in your OP? Just curious because TBH, I thought something like that might be at play here :-)
JuliaJayne -
I see no difference between watching too much tv and spending too much time on the internet.aaah, that explains a lot :-) We're seeing this from a completely different perspective in that I see watching TV (esp too much of it, and particularly if it's generic channel-surfing instead of sitting down for a movie or a specific show) as VASTLY different to exploring the web - whether that's ill-timed or procrastinatory is one thing, but it is rarely a complete waste.
Internet browsing is much more mentally engaging than tv, esp since OP reported that the 'time wasters' were blogs and forums, both of which are fairly information dense (not as much as articles or other extended content, but still) - it's not like she said she was off lollygagging on facebook all day. IOW, 'too much TV' is probably true, but 'too much internet' is much closer to 'too much reading' (in fact, that's pretty much what it is) and as such, the usefulness of what you're reading may not be immediately apparent and may be ill-timed (because you're supposed to be doing something else), but it's not really a waste, either.
Posted 1 year ago # -
ella, i am using rescuetime for some days now and i was positive thrilled at first. it seems to be very accurate but it´s not. the problem is that it reacts to your mouse-movement and typing, but if you don´t do anything on the computer it logs it as "nothing". so if you sit in front of the monitor (reading) it doesn´t log anything at all. i got results like "you have worked 10 minutes this hour" but i was sitting in front of the monitor, reading, sometimes writing a note, scrolling etc., have worked 59 minutes of 60 and got a result "you have worked for 10 minutes". :/ the problem is that it just logs you as offline if you don´t move the mouse or type for more then 5 minutes. it could be perfect but the idling time is wayyyy too long...
Posted 1 year ago # -
Mili - that's what I said. Here... I'll quote myself so you don't have to go look.
Copied from one of my previous posts "I see no difference between watching too much tv and spending too much time on the internet."
Posted 1 year ago # -
I have been online for 23 years now and it has been a constant struggle to keep my online time within bounds. I have saved some time by routing a lot of my blog reading through Google Reader. I scan the list and only open things that look interesting. There are a number of blogs and news sites that I didn't import into reader ... either because it's faster to run my eye over a page of news items, or because I want to read the comment threads. I recently pruned that bookmark list ruthlessly.
Still, I spend several hours a day reading online. That's not counting watching Doctor Who on Netflix streaming, or proofreading ebooks at Distributed Proofreaders. The reading is necessary for me. A lot of it is academic or geeky. I feel that I'm better educated now, by the net, than I was when I was a graduate student swotting away in the library.
Posted 1 year ago #
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