7
Is there any way I can set time restrictions for certain websites? I want to set a time limit of two hours a day for facebook. I think a lot of time at my home is lost to facebook. After the time is up, anyone who tries to visit the website should see a message saying "time expired."
johndoe
Posted 2011-03-02T15:28:43.793
Reputation: 71
3
There are lots and lots and lots of different filtering programs—most, understandably, concerned with blocking adult content, and many of which cost some chunk of money.
SafeSquid appears to do what you want (amongst other things), and they have a free version for 3 users or less. I have no idea how easy or difficult it is to set up.
Carson Chittom
Posted 2011-03-02T15:28:43.793
Reputation: 51
As far as I know, there is no tool answering to original question. SafeSquid is not solution, at least not without some custom plugins. You can use timeframes ("Allow from 12 to 14") but not length ("You used this for n hours, now it's expired for this day") – Olli – 2011-03-02T20:41:37.620
@Olli StayFocusd does exactly that... you input, say 90 minutes, and after using it for 90 minutes (in total) whenever you visit that site it says "Shouldn't you be working?" I believe there is a version for Firefox too. – hasc – 2011-03-02T21:29:58.807
@Olli: I agree, there's no tool answering the original question, since it's not a strictly technical issue, yet it is a real problem. Spending less time on certain sites is a matter of just making a mental effort for spending less time on certain sites. Otherwise people start looking for surrogates which are sometimes even worse than the original evils :-) – vtest – 2011-03-02T21:52:30.200
3
If you use Google Chrome, I strongly recommend the StayFocusd extension. It's proven to be extremely useful for me (mainly as a productivity tool). As with any Chrome extension, it takes a second to install and 30 seconds to configure the options - choose how much time you want to allow yourself to be on Facebook and other sites that you class as time-wasting.
hasc
Posted 2011-03-02T15:28:43.793
Reputation: 404
0
A great tool that I would recomend using is Rescue Time (http://www.rescuetime.com) It will track not just web sites but everything you do on the computer and give you a numerical values of how productive you are. It wont spacificly restrict you from doing something or going somewhere but i will remind you that you are wasting time and need to get back to work. their is also a focuse feature that helps you remove distractions for short periods of time. it will also give you very detaild reports on where you are being productive and where you are not over a time line.
jamason1983
Posted 2011-03-02T15:28:43.793
Reputation: 301
0
If you're a Firefox user, consider LeechBlock. I haven't used it myself, but Pollyanna seems to think it's okay.
Pops
Posted 2011-03-02T15:28:43.793
Reputation: 7 353
Browser extensions are definitely the way to go for this. You’ll likely find plenty of specific recommendations below. Also, you may want to specify what browser you use, but some extensions are cross-browser anyway. – Synetech – 2011-03-02T23:33:12.557
What ever happened to the old fashioned alarm clock? ;-> – Moab – 2011-03-03T16:50:49.250