Do you find ways to limit electronic distractions to help you study?

[simonlaing]

I have been pondering get the VPN provider, probably Witopia so that I can use facebook again. I miss using it. But now that i haven't had it for a few months I think that I have had more time and realize that it was a significant distraction.

Also it is the start of American football season. An adverstisment for Philipines illegal satellite TV is drawing my attention.

Both of these forms of media are very interesting and enjoyable. The cost of these is not a major issue either.

I was wondering though how this would affect my already faltering Chinese studies and other projects. I am thinking about prioritizing Chinese studies by not signing up for these.

Does this make sense to others? Or is it that I am deluding myself and the spare time will be filled with procrastination it will just be PPS.tv ppstream TV shows and DVD movies. So i might as well sign up for the services as I get more quality from talking with friends on Facebook and watching American football than the latest action movie...

Do other people also control their exposure to distractions to help with focusing on studying?

Have fun,

Simon:)

[imron]

Do other people also control their exposure to distractions to help with focusing on studying?

Just do what I do and make sure the distractions are also in the Chinese language and then you can pretend to justify it

[roddy]

I try not to use anything that pops up and interrupts you - desktop RSS, IM tools, email notifications. Although I will often turn something on 'for a quick check' and then leave it running, as actually I'd quite like to be interrupted.

[SunDaYu]

If I'm studying on my computer I just pull the Ethernet cord out.

True story, I used to be a regular video game player, but ever since I started learning Chinese I stopped so it wouldn't interfere with my studies. Since then, 2 years ago, I haven't played any video games. I also cut TV and only watch select shows on the internet now.

I also just discipline myself, but promise a huge reward in the end. For instance, I've been studying all day everyday for nearly 2 weeks so far, but I know that in 2 weeks I'm taking a 2 week vacation to explore China. So book work now, fun later

[wushijiao]

I think limiting TV is a good idea. Whether that means not buying a satellite or not buying DVD TV series, I guess you'd have to look at your weaknesses. I always tried to limit buying TV series, especially of the type that you can bet will be entertaining, but will do nothing but waste time.

Unplugging from the internet (like sundayu does) is a good idea.

For me, I'd often go out to study, to a park or a coffehouse. Then, I'd set a goal, ie. "I'll study for at least one hour", or "I'll finish 10 pages before I leave". That way, you'll have minimal distractions.

Another important thing you can do is take one whole day and devote it to studying- say eight hours or more. After that, doing one or two hours a day will seem a lot easier. Sometimes you just have to get the ball rolling.

[animal world]

I shucked TV years ago and you have no idea how much time you gain. Your really reclaim your life by doing so. Why waste your precious life by allowing nonsense to manipulate you? This was brought home again to me in a big way when reading the headlines on the internet about Balloon Boy. Oh, please. It's actually quite funny not to know what's showing on TV. On the internet i see pictures and captions of people who are apparently quite famous (from TV shows presumably) but i'm clueless who they are. This is a case where ignorance IS bliss

When doing my serious studying i don't go online. Otherwise, it's just to easy at a rough spot to give yourself a "little" break by visiting a site, reading an article and hey, let's click on that link and wow, this is quite interesting, let's check this out in more detail ...

[Gleaves]

I'm with imron on this one. It's a great feeling to turn your distractions into Chinese practice whenever possible. NFL has a Chinese site. Hopefully it's not blocked. There's gotta be a few blogs on 美式足球? Less ideal and ripe for abuse, but maybe make a pact with yourself to study during games (Turn down the announcer and listen to Chinese? SRS in between snaps? Work on pronunciation, handwriting? Pretend to announce the game... in Chinese... maybe not.)

I feel like it is a shame to cut out things that you genuinely enjoy instead of redirecting that motivation toward doing Chinese stuff.

[renzhe]

Watching football (soccer) on Chinese channels hasn't improved my Chinese at all.

Just in case anyone is attempting to try to pass that off as practice

[atitarev]

I don't find ways to limit electronic distractions, fighting some addictions...

[character]

All the good standard suggestions have been made, so here are some looking at it from another angle:

'For me, I'd often go out to study, to a park or a coffehouse. Then, I'd set a goal, ie. "I'll study for at least one hour", or "I'll finish 10 pages before I leave". That way, you'll have minimal distractions.'

To add to that, as increasing time spent studying is the ultimate goal, find some way to be able to study when you have downtime, such as when waiting in line. I pull out Pleco and go through flashcards (you could also use its reader functionality) in such situations.

Also, if you're not getting enough exercise/sleep, increasing those could help with improving your willpower/focus so you can reject distractions and study more.

[roddy]

These last two weeks I've been using the windows host file (see Method 2) to ban sites that basically result in wasted time. That's been fairly effective, although I suspect I'm just wasting some of the time elsewhere. I let myself open them up again at the weekends though

A friend has been using and recommending this lately - basically it keeps track of what you spend time working on on your computer, and lays it all out for you in gory detail. You can also use it to, say, ban yourself from certain sites for the next two hours. There's a free version.

To keep track of what I should be doing, rather than avoiding what I shouldn't I use Pocket Informant in combination with a rather half-hearted effort at Getting Things Done. I was sceptical about the GTD idea at first, but the idea of keeping things noted in some form so they don't constantly pop up in mental RAM is a keeper.

[gato]

These last two weeks I've been using the windows host file (see Method 2) to ban sites that basically result in wasted time. That's been fairly effective, although I suspect I'm just wasting some of the time elsewhere.

If you use Firefox, the addon LeechBlock allows you set a time limit for how much visit certain sites everyday. See here:

http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html