Tangled in an endless web of distractions:
It was supposed to be a quick diversion, Katie Inman told herself last week as she flipped open her laptop. She had two tests to study for, three problem sets due, a paper to revise. But within minutes, the MIT sophomore was drawn into the depths of the Internet, her work shunted aside.There's a sidebar that describes the program, SelfControl, but no link.
“I had just closed Facebook, but then I reopened it. It’s horrible,’’ said Inman, a mechanical engineering major. “I would type a sentence for my paper, and then get back on Facebook.’’
Desperate for productivity, Inman did something many of her classmates at one of the most wired campuses would find unfathomable: She installed a program that blocks certain websites for up to 24 hours. No social networking. No e-mail. No aimless surfing...
As for Inman, she has developed a new routine to keep from succumbing to the lure of the Internet. Around 9:30 each evening as she settles down to study, she sets the self-control application on her laptop for two hours. She is blocked from Facebook, Twitter, and other websites she does not want to be tempted by.
And there is nothing she can do to disable it once it is set.
SelfControl:Here's the link again:
Blocks access on Mac computers to e-mail and websites such as Facebook or others of your choice for a set period of time of up to 24 hours. Once enabled, the app cannot be turned off.
SelfControl OS X App as seen in Boston Globe - Blocks access to #email #Facebook #twitter for a set period of time.
