How to Block Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram on Your Computer

October 20, 2017 by Freedom

Why you should block Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

By now, we all know that Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram often steal away our attention and time when we need it most. Often all it takes is a single push notification to send us on an internet rabbit hole that can last minutes, hours, and eventually years. Although spending years on social media can seem exaggerated, a recent study by Mediakix estimated that the average person will spend approximately 5 years and 4 months on social media during a lifetime! A statistic that gets even scarier when compared to the amount of time the average person spends eating – 3 years and five months, or time spent doing laundry, 6 months.

At Freedom, we don’t think you have to block websites like Facebook and Twitter permanently. Many of us can agree that social media does have its benefits, but too often we use it compulsively rather than in a controlled and intentional manner.

Too often our compulsive use of these technologies can leave us feeling guilty and unproductive, not to mention that studies have found that high usage of social media is correlated with increased rates of depression and lower rates of moment-to-moment happiness and overall life satisfaction. So why is it so hard for us to stop?

Why social media is so distracting

Part of the problem is our brain’s natural makeup that craves the chemical rewards often given to us by social media. – namely dopamine and oxytocin. Dopamine encourages our brain to seek and desire novelty like the constant flow of information from our newsfeeds and oxytocin promotes feelings of connectedness, bonding, and trust which we often feel when friends and family like and share our pictures and posts. So even when we have work to do or other activities we’d rather be doing, we get pulled back in by our brain’s nagging desire for a few more minutes of feeling good.

The second part of the problem is that much of the tech we use daily is designed to play off our brain’s chemistry and keep us coming back for more. Social media sites and apps make their money by grabbing your attention as much and for as long as possible, so often times the features are designed to be addicting. Which is why it’s often an unfair battle for our self-control and willpower to constantly ignore all the distractions screaming our name.

The solution – Block your distractions

That’s where Freedom comes in. Freedom allows you to block distracting websites, apps, or the whole internet on your computer so you can focus on what matters. And since not all distractions are online, with Freedom you can block distracting apps and websites on your phone and tablet as well.

With Freedom, you can also create custom block lists of all your worst distractions and schedule blocks on-the-fly or in advance so you can regain control over your technology and focus. You can even create recurring block sessions that start automatically to make controlled social media use a habit.

How to block Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram on your computer

step 1

Create an account or sign in to freedom.to

step 2

Select whether you want your session to “Start now,” “Start later,” or to create “Recurring sessions”

step 3

Choose how long you want to be free from distraction

step 4

Select a blocklist or create a new one. If you create a new list – title it, add URLs of the sites you want to block or select distracting sites from our preset list. Make sure you save your block list and that it is selected.