App blocker timers beat website blockers for me, tried both for 30 days

I ran a little test on myself last month. First 15 days I used a website blocker on my laptop for Reddit and YouTube. Next 15 days I put app timers on my phone for the same sites. The difference was night and day. The website blocker was too easy to bypass, I just opened a different browser or used my phone. But the app timers on my phone, they actually made me stop and think before I got sucked in. Anyone else find that stopping the app itself works better than filtering the content?

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andrew_wood721mo ago

...and that's the thing, it's like the friction has to be physical or it doesn't count. I noticed the same pattern with my morning coffee routine. When I just tell myself "I'll only check the news for five minutes" the phone is right there in my hand, it's too easy. But when I have to actually get up and walk to the other room to grab the tablet, I end up just making my coffee instead. It's that extra step of moving your body that makes your brain go "wait, do I really want this right now?" The timer on the app is like a wall you have to climb, but the website blocker is just a sign that says "don't go this way" and you just walk around it. I think people underestimate how much our brains need that physical break to actually change the habit.