The Internet is truly a marvelous invention with the sheer amount of information that can be found, but if you’ve ever found yourself up at 4AM browsing reddit or looking at cat pictures when you have a term paper or presentation in a few hours, then you need StayFocusd. StayFocusd is an extension for Chrome that helps block sites that keep you distracted so you can focus directly on your work instead of your distractions.
It has two methods of helping keep you on track. The first is a standard blocking method that allows you to add sites to your blacklist and then specify the amount of time you want to be able to view these sites within a 24 hour period. For example, if you find yourself browsing Facebook at work more than you should, put it on your blacklist and only allow for 30 minutes. If you spend more than 30 minutes on Facebook or any of the other sites on your list, you’ll be effectively locked out.
The second option is the nuke method, which most students will probably love. With the nuke method, you can choose to block only your blacklist sites, only sites you’ve whitelisted, or all sites for a specified amount of time. This option is great for finishing up a project you don’t want to be distracted from.
So next time it comes down to finishing that project or harvesting another crop on Farmville, use StayFocusd to keep you from clicking those virtual turnips. Download StayFocusd from the Chrome Web store by clicking here.
