This should be a good place to describe my system of keeping Facebook working for me The centerpiece of this system is a tool called FocusMe. No other tool (of the 10 or so that I have evaluated) can do this job.
FocusMe is blocking software, but it’s the only blocking software that has 2 essential features: - It can be airtight, i.e. you can set it up in a way that it cannot be switched off (without factory resetting your device) - It can block parts of a website without blocking others (with regexes).
My problem with Facebook is that the feed reliably makes my life worse while the groups and the events functions make my life considerably better. As an organiser of LessWrong events I need to be on Facebook to attract a large chunk of the attendance. Just going ballistic on FB by blocking its IP address range (like many blockers do) is not an option for me. I also want to kinda keep using messenger and definitely whatsapp.
That’s just my laptop. For my phone, things are somewhat trickier with less options for total control, but you can still have it your way with burg… Mobile Device Management (MDM) software. The overall feeling of niceness of my life was quite saliently improved once my phone no longer had a browser on it. I also tend to block instant messaging in favor of keeping that stuff on my laptop, where I can manage my access to it on a more granular level. After trying 4 or 5 MDM solutions I settled on Jamfnow, but you have options here.
My general philosophy is the following: seriously, fuck willpower as a solution for anything. It requires a constant tenseness and alertness. Instead, control yourself in two ways: by synchronizing your s2 with your s1 to the point that your “bad” impulses dissolve, or by simply making it practically impossible for yourself to do “bad” things, and then joyfully following your impulses. It turns out that my impulses are totally productive as long as I take their addictions away, and after a while I cease to make a distinction between “me” and “my brain” at all, since they always agree anyway.
FocusMe can be helpful. When I was using it more though, I did have the issue that I blocked distractions that I was addicted to because the work I was doing wasn’t fulfilling enough, which I ignored and tried to fix by blocking more distractions. I’ll probably try it again now that I’m better at internal retrospection.
For anyone trying now for the first time though, I’d definitely be careful of this failure mode.
Yeah, that’s the exact way I’ve started thinking about it. Too much coercion can cause desynchronization. I’m hoping improving my ability to watch my mind will improve this.
This should be a good place to describe my system of keeping Facebook working for me
The centerpiece of this system is a tool called FocusMe. No other tool (of the 10 or so that I have evaluated) can do this job.
FocusMe is blocking software, but it’s the only blocking software that has 2 essential features:
- It can be airtight, i.e. you can set it up in a way that it cannot be switched off (without factory resetting your device)
- It can block parts of a website without blocking others (with regexes).
My problem with Facebook is that the feed reliably makes my life worse while the groups and the events functions make my life considerably better. As an organiser of LessWrong events I need to be on Facebook to attract a large chunk of the attendance. Just going ballistic on FB by blocking its IP address range (like many blockers do) is not an option for me. I also want to kinda keep using messenger and definitely whatsapp.
So I block facebook.com and whitelist facebook.com/events, facebook.com/groups and facebook.com/login, and I happily do all the right things and none of the wrong things, and not a moment goes by that I miss the days of willpower.
That’s just my laptop. For my phone, things are somewhat trickier with less options for total control, but you can still have it your way with burg… Mobile Device Management (MDM) software. The overall feeling of niceness of my life was quite saliently improved once my phone no longer had a browser on it. I also tend to block instant messaging in favor of keeping that stuff on my laptop, where I can manage my access to it on a more granular level. After trying 4 or 5 MDM solutions I settled on Jamfnow, but you have options here.
My general philosophy is the following: seriously, fuck willpower as a solution for anything. It requires a constant tenseness and alertness. Instead, control yourself in two ways: by synchronizing your s2 with your s1 to the point that your “bad” impulses dissolve, or by simply making it practically impossible for yourself to do “bad” things, and then joyfully following your impulses. It turns out that my impulses are totally productive as long as I take their addictions away, and after a while I cease to make a distinction between “me” and “my brain” at all, since they always agree anyway.
FocusMe can be helpful. When I was using it more though, I did have the issue that I blocked distractions that I was addicted to because the work I was doing wasn’t fulfilling enough, which I ignored and tried to fix by blocking more distractions. I’ll probably try it again now that I’m better at internal retrospection.
For anyone trying now for the first time though, I’d definitely be careful of this failure mode.
This is a good example of what I call synchronizing your s2 with your s1
Yeah, that’s the exact way I’ve started thinking about it. Too much coercion can cause desynchronization. I’m hoping improving my ability to watch my mind will improve this.