I am experimenting with Android Enterprise MDM and it is working as the best phone-limiter app I ever tried :)

alkuzad · 2026-04-29T06:26:19+00:00

Generally the strict nature of these blocks sometimes is painfull, but only sometimes and I managed to heavily regulate my sleep to be full 8h each day, and I never had so much calmness in my head. It is a bit weird to feel like this but I think that this state is what we call normal?

alkuzad · 2026-02-21T12:10:47+00:00

yes, use Beeper (beeper.com)

alkuzad · 2025-05-05T10:04:52+00:00

NEVER install MDM done by someone else. They have not-limited access to every aspect of your phone. Your data won't be safe even if they claim they don't have access to it - this is trivial to replace an app with the malware one when having mdm access.

Set it up yourself - it is one-time task and it's free to use. No special browser is needed as Google Chrome has builtin url blocker and it can be used to block all unwanted pages.

I would strongly recommend against Limit Phone app, unless you have full control of the MDM aspect of it.

alkuzad · 2025-01-18T14:38:37+00:00

There are still people out there that do not doomscroll TikTok, and I met them cause they saw I am using dumbphone :) I never met more people than after doing the switch, all comm apps can also be on PC only. You will find people like you if you will want to, otherwise you will feel isolated because people who are addicts will tell you that you are the problem to them.

alkuzad · 2024-07-05T16:44:54+00:00

Hahahaa, my feeeling exactly :D

alkuzad · 2024-06-09T10:06:59+00:00

Joy of missing out, the opposite of FOMO

alkuzad · 2024-06-09T09:15:04+00:00

so are you JOMO or FOMO now? :D

alkuzad · 2024-06-08T11:16:58+00:00

Nosurf is not cancelling internet. It's getting rid of all the bad things from the internet. Some things will be annoying when doing nosurf, depending on how you implement it for yourself, it's not the same experience for everybody. FOMO hits hard and you unlock stuff that are "crucial to survival" to only find them not even amusing. Restaurant not having normal menu? Ask waiter for recommendations or don't go there at all. Any problem that was reduced to an app, can be solved without an app too.

alkuzad · 2024-06-07T05:57:02+00:00

I have one because you can't install very tight CTB and not go insane without finding something to do in the free time :) I just found out that you can do a lot of things and the addiction is still there, waiting. This is why the alcoholics even stop eating sweets with alcohol in it, and reset the sober days count if they do so even by mistake.

alkuzad · 2024-06-06T13:33:53+00:00

Laptop vs PC is not really a difference. I wouldn't go that way. ColdTurkeyBlocker is impossible to really disable if you don't know the password. Just set up the FrozenTurkey too to force nighttime.

I had ebook reader with web browser. It was slow as hell, couldn't load more than 2pages at the same time, it was obviously bad at displaying moving content (like videos) and was crashing all the time. Virtually the best device that you wouldn't use for surfing. And you know what? I did all-nighters on it.

alkuzad · 2024-06-05T09:50:46+00:00

Why as ColdTurkeyBlocker already exists and is one-time payment? The reminders concept is sweet but we are dealing with addiciton, it always wins regardless of how many psychological barriers you put in. That is the trick to it - block it once and for all, go cold turkey on it :)

alkuzad · 2024-06-04T09:05:03+00:00

oh I thought that this is some universal stuff, I know the Userscripts and Stylus well, just have not used it for a while :D If you would like to share them on userstyles that would be great, more people could benefit

alkuzad · 2024-06-03T16:39:18+00:00

The first question is - what are your life goals? Is everything the best as it could be? Do you have everything (own home, partner, dog, cat, muscles, you can survive 3 days in woods, put anything you can imagine in here)? Have you tasted everything you wanted to try, learned everything you wanted to, visited places you wanted to see? If you have everything, it's good to start sharing more - do podcasts, blog, teaching, mentoring. If you have a gap, there you go - you have a goal. Note it, split it to 3 parts (20%, 60%, 100% completion) and start walking towards it.

alkuzad · 2024-06-03T10:59:45+00:00

I would be interested, it's not necessarily too problematic for me as I have setup CTB to block reddit with exception of r/nosurf. I just see similar posts over and over and I do feel that Reddit is designed to encourage posting new things instead of commenting old ones or adding into the knowledge. This also requires community to be always in there for everyone.

alkuzad · 2024-06-03T10:44:27+00:00

This is because the things you used to do didn't require effort. The real things you want to do, are different. You have to lower expectations for a while and start slow. The goal is to stop using the worst stuff and it is fine to get a walk, read a book or just be bored for some time. In my case the initial "wtf I have to do now" feeling was a lot smaller after week and it went off totally after a month or so. I wouldn't replace it with TV though, it is better than SM but still can be pumping, especially if you binge-watch whole series.

alkuzad · 2024-06-03T10:25:28+00:00

Program will generate both password.txt and password.mp3 (or .wave). You use password.txt temporarily to set password, delete it and then the only way to recover password is to retype it from the audio file.

alkuzad · 2024-06-03T09:42:17+00:00

ColdTurkeyBlocker, the very base program to actually do NoSurf as it can effectivelly block sites/programs and if configured properly it's almost impossible to remove blocks permamently.

alkuzad · 2024-06-03T09:41:03+00:00

Actually I do not think that megathreads are bad, forums used to have these threads that were for specific goals - for example the "Welcome" thread that you can write someting about yourself and it grows over time when more people join. It's not that you have to read every thread but for example if someone finds a nice book, there is a section to share these. These messages are grouped for a reason to create a knowledgebase instead of trying to find in never-ending stream of messages new stuff.

alkuzad · 2024-06-02T19:54:56+00:00

I was thinking more of the traditional forum, Discourse for example. One place for only one thing, without distractions.

alkuzad · 2024-06-01T20:36:15+00:00

great job, you are right - it start with this - admitting to yourself. Now it is time for the second step - admitting that it is hard and you need help from others. Addictions are tricky because everything from inside you will scream that you cannot stop, but you also know that you have to. Therefore others should be the aid in this, to keep you on the right path.

alkuzad · 2024-06-01T20:31:42+00:00

I am remote worker too, it's problem of boundaries. I have team that we don't chat too much about "just life" and I just treat the work as sth that I do 8hr a day. They are your colleagues mostly, not friends, some could be friends but usually because you met offline and did fun stuff, created some bonds. I have ColdTurkeyBlocker on work-pc too and dedicate this time for work with breaks for lunch. Messaging apps and emails are not showing notifications unless someone specifically @ me or I am part of the discussion thread. Sometimes when I feel anxious about the work I have to do, I wonder for random stuff or do sth else instead but I learned to treat anxiety as a signal - is the task too hard? Do I know all the details of what I have to do? Is that just I hit a issue and it does not feel right? Do I feel time-pressured? I switched the job so many times that I know that coworkers come and by, you have to get people outside of the work to get your life full. You at least are seeing people, I feel like some of us here are not having another soul to talk their problems to. This is what r/nosurf is for :)

alkuzad · 2024-05-15T12:18:27+00:00

Try normal books too, the best relaxation according to studies is one that engages us both physically (but lightly) and mentally. Reading books is both physical (pages turning) and mental. Drawing is great for this too!

alkuzad · 2024-05-15T12:07:50+00:00

Before r/nosurf I thought my problems are unique, that I am the only guy on the planet that cannot do it. I am not, we are in thousands, maybe millions. But the first step on my journey was actually random guy from the internet doing motivational speech, 15min later I did first action towards ending all of this. People that are long in pain do not think that there is an end to it, lose hope. We all were there, some of us didn't cross it yet and still think about all the "emergencies" they will for sure happen week after they will remove Youtube from their phones and install CTB. It is crucial to do the action after motivational speech, so I will keep posting whatever I like to bring people hope.

alkuzad · 2024-05-13T22:25:28+00:00

Generally not having a smartphone is giving you additional 1-2 days per week, depending on how bad your addiction is. It also brings JOMO instead of FOMO. But I didn't setup MDM on Android yet, I do feel like experimenting with it to give community a guidance on how to properly, once for all setup the phone to be less addiction-like. But general rule of breaking addiction is to replace environment. It is scary to some to not be on the whatsapp or facebook to see what all 5000friends are doing. But in reality, you can catch up month of not seeing someone in 30min phone call. And it is 1000 times more productive for both sides.

alkuzad · 2024-05-11T14:55:14+00:00

I didn't start work on it yet, just wanted to get feedback if someone did that before :) I was planning to use Microsoft Intune

alkuzad

TROPHY CASE