I Blocked Almost Every Site for a Year - This is What Happened 23 December, 2024

So in my posts The Internet is Hell and About My Blocklists, I explained a strategy that I was taking for the year: extreme isolation from the ebb and flow of the internet using Cold Turkey Blocker and a generous amount of browser extensions. I should also add that I installed browser extensions like uBlacklist to block search engine results, Shut Up to block comments, etc. Extreme measures, but measures that I thought would improve my mental health and distance me from the noise of the 2020s Information Age.

Did it work? Well, sometimes. Keeping a ‘study whitelist’ (which I cheekily named Digital Methylphenidate) was good for productivity, and not burdening myself with doomscrolling and other post-internet social phenomena was a good feeling at times.

But it wasn’t a panacea; by November, after I uninstalled Cold Turkey Blocker via a full system reset (yep, the app is that strong), I overall found this experiment to be unhelpful. I found that I was becoming more ‘sensitive’; content that I found merely irritating now felt infuriating. The mere mention of current events was like an apocalyptic meltdown going on in my brain. If major news broke out (because as we all know, we are not living in uninteresting times), then it would cause me to want to shut myself off from the world entirely. This sensation was honestly exhausting; it felt like I was running away from everything rather than facing it.

It also meant that I added more and more websites to my blacklist as time went on. Came across a site I didn’t like? Add it to the blacklist. A site I liked suddenly became unbearable? Add it to the blacklist, don’t worry about it. By the end, the blacklist had ballooned to around 600 URLs (including wildcards).

There was another problem: exploiting the setup. Blocklists + search engine blocking + comment blocking sounded airtight, but the withdrawals of internet addiction led me to exploits. I talk more about it here. Simply put, instead of browsing subconsciously and losing time mindlessly, I found myself stuck between finding exploits and keeping myself from finding exploits. More exhaustion.

Got it! Here’s a less serious revision:

Did it work? Well, sometimes. Keeping a ‘study whitelist’ (which I cheekily named Digital Methylphenidate) was good for productivity, and not burdening myself with doomscrolling and other post-internet social phenomena helped me stay sharper and more focused.

I do think that the strategy of blocking websites for productivity and mental well-being is a good one. But if you’re looking for detox, have some grasp on the real world. You may not be interested in the chaos, but the chaos is interested in you.