Continuing the discussion from What could be popping up "where is Vivaldi" regularly?:
How do you like Freedom?
I need help focusing.
It’s pretty good — I use it on both iOS and Mac and generally appreciate having it as a tool for intentional behavior change. It’s not a panacea, but it does add enough friction that, if you set your blocks based a sensible and intentional policy (like “I won’t look at these sites [on this device / except at these times of day / …]”), it prevents accidentally slipping off out of habit. Every time I semi-unconsciously go somewhere I’ve blocked, I feel it as a reminder of that intention and it makes it easier to stick to it.
But it’s worth noting that that success is rooted in first thinking about what I want my operating procedures to be, and only setting the policies accordingly. Good inspiration is the idea of defined “operating procedures” in Digital Minimalism.
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I used Freedom for a long while, it definitely helped me to kick my social media habit. Unfortunately, it’s not as useful on iPad or iPhone due to restrictions imposed by Apple, but if you’re serious about changing your habits you should probably be looking to remove apps from those devices and restrict yourself to just accessing from a desktop browser. It’s no substitute for willingness to make changes, and you may need to resort to locking Freedom down to make it harder to turn off if you’re struggling.
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