Grayscale filter on my phone. Makes images/videos less appealing, while retaining the utility of text-based use cases.
Having a custom hosts file for blocking websites at the OS level. Each time I thought “OK having access to this website on this device is counterproductive”, I appended it to this file. As a bonus, you can use it to block telemetry/tracking/ads domains. StevenBlack has made a good compilation of domains you may want to block. A word of caution: use only for the worst websites, or else you may find yourself disabling it.
Pairing/repacing the superstimuli with a wholesome nearby stimulus. For instance, right now I don’t have the grayscale filter enabled on my phone, and I have Instagram installed on it. You may think I get sucked in by the reel feed? Nope. I don’t, because I am very accustomed to opening the app, checking my DMs, seeing a couple memes sent by friends, searching for memes to send in return, sending them, and closing the app. I have recontextualized the content as a resource used to express affection. For this, it is very important to search for content that I expect the other person to enjoy, or to feel represented by.
A thing I’m curious to try:
Having a very minimal OS interface setup for my work computer. As in, doing as much as possible with terminal-based tools (turns out, you can do a whole lot from your terminal), and having a small set of only absolutely necessary GUI apps (for instance, some internet browser that didn’t save cookies and had a hard tab limit, also probably Zoom, and that’s it).
Things that have worked for me:
Grayscale filter on my phone. Makes images/videos less appealing, while retaining the utility of text-based use cases.
Having a custom hosts file for blocking websites at the OS level. Each time I thought “OK having access to this website on this device is counterproductive”, I appended it to this file. As a bonus, you can use it to block telemetry/tracking/ads domains. StevenBlack has made a good compilation of domains you may want to block. A word of caution: use only for the worst websites, or else you may find yourself disabling it.
Pairing/repacing the superstimuli with a wholesome nearby stimulus. For instance, right now I don’t have the grayscale filter enabled on my phone, and I have Instagram installed on it. You may think I get sucked in by the reel feed? Nope. I don’t, because I am very accustomed to opening the app, checking my DMs, seeing a couple memes sent by friends, searching for memes to send in return, sending them, and closing the app. I have recontextualized the content as a resource used to express affection. For this, it is very important to search for content that I expect the other person to enjoy, or to feel represented by.
A thing I’m curious to try:
Having a very minimal OS interface setup for my work computer. As in, doing as much as possible with terminal-based tools (turns out, you can do a whole lot from your terminal), and having a small set of only absolutely necessary GUI apps (for instance, some internet browser that didn’t save cookies and had a hard tab limit, also probably Zoom, and that’s it).