Distraction Blockers

Summary

Author: Paulin Viray

Date Updated: 2022-01-25

Date Added: 2022-01-25

Research: Our team researched the problem of unintentional internet use in the US and looked for the most effective way to minimize that.

Summary: With the use of a distraction blockers, we estimate that on average, 64% of unintentional internet use can be prevented.

Recommendation: Use distraction blocker software like Freedom

Overall Impact Score: 6/10 - if a person starts using a distraction blocker at 18, they save at least 34456 hours or around 3.9 years
Audience: 90% - Most US adults
Benefits: Reduce 64% of your unintentional internet use and up your productivity Costs: $6.99/month and $129 forever. Risks: We estimate that there’s no significant risk in using a distraction blocker
Certainty: 90% - Individuals who used a distraction blocker has seen significant improvement in their screen time, productivity and control in their internet usage
Difficulty: Moderate - Hesitation around new technologies and product workarounds

Recommendations

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Individual Recommendation If you have a problem controlling yourself in using addicting sites/platform online, we recommend trying to install a distraction blocker in your computer or smartphones, particularly Freedom. Using this will help you eliminate distractions and focus on a single task, break bad habit and build new good ones, and be more productive in general. Distractions are habit forming so it is necessary to minimize them.
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Organizational Recommendation Organizations can benefit greatly in installing distraction blockers like Freedom in their computers. In addition, a time tracker with similar feature like RescueTime that is more tailored for companies can be used. This can help them ensure that the employees are focused, and doing what they were supposed to do during office hours. Research showed that about 30-40% of employee activity is not related to work and costs US businesses $63 billion in lost productivity each year.
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Societal Recommendation As a collective, the internet has improved our lives tremendously, in ways we never have imagined before. Now, we know it came with a price. Being more connected online meant being disconnected in real life for other people. If most of the population will take pause and notice their internet consumption, we can have an insight about our blindspots. With the aid of a distraction blocker, we can be more empowered to make changes that will benefit us individually and as a society in the long run. In a perfect world, applications and websites would not be built to be addicting so we urge the developers to create something that is beneficial and fun but not with the risk of people’s well being. Here at Better, we aim at developing things like that and hope to share some of our work related with this area soon.

Learn More

Alternatives

One can also configure the settings of each app to minimize distraction and take away the urge to watch a video or click a link on Facebook. Another option is to install a newsfeed eradicator where you can eliminate social media noise and replace it with inspiring quotes.

Recommended Resources

Impact of digital distraction
Impact of the internet among users