Internet procrastination can have multiple causes, which aligned with each other provide the disastrous results.
random reinforcement schedule -- I have found also many valuable things online; the problem is I get them randomly
social activity superstimulus—internet is to human interaction like sugar is to food
trivial inconveniences—clicking another link in browser is easier than standing up and doing something else
instant feedback loop—loading a webpage takes a second on average, many our activities are a few magnitudes of order slower
...and this is just for websites not optimized for being addictive. For example blogs are more addictive, because their timeline creates a sense of urgency. Blog comments create a lot of noise attached to the interesting content. Wikis contain too many links.
There are some tools that can make web browsing less convenient and slower (addressing the trivial convenience and instant feedback), and there is an article by Luke “How to Beat Procrastination”. I guess the critical part is not only to read the article but actually to do the suggested things.
Internet procrastination can have multiple causes, which aligned with each other provide the disastrous results.
random reinforcement schedule -- I have found also many valuable things online; the problem is I get them randomly
social activity superstimulus—internet is to human interaction like sugar is to food
trivial inconveniences—clicking another link in browser is easier than standing up and doing something else
instant feedback loop—loading a webpage takes a second on average, many our activities are a few magnitudes of order slower
...and this is just for websites not optimized for being addictive. For example blogs are more addictive, because their timeline creates a sense of urgency. Blog comments create a lot of noise attached to the interesting content. Wikis contain too many links.
Now where’s the scientific research on how to counter these effects?
There are some tools that can make web browsing less convenient and slower (addressing the trivial convenience and instant feedback), and there is an article by Luke “How to Beat Procrastination”. I guess the critical part is not only to read the article but actually to do the suggested things.