These lists are targeted to those who are much more easily distracted and need something (at least for now) stronger than will-power to help curb their inattentiveness to life and their work/study.
This may not Help you to become the Astronaut Doctor ninja you wanted to be, and be focused all the time, but it will help curb your distraction, atleast just a bit
Stay Focused (Free and well equipped, Pro version for a few hundred rupees, was around Rs/- 350 at the time i got it a few years ago)
This is by far the best app off the list, with functionality that locks your phone no matter what you do, and an extensive list of block features from, hourly blocks, to 'use an app for X mins to unlock'(I have it set to use a mediation app for 3 mins a day to unlock my phone) and so much more, also included website blocks.
For those on OnePlus phones, this is basically ZenMode on Steroids
BlipBlop (Free)
every X minute a sound is played (Beep, Gong, Cockoo ,Ring)
Helps remind you to be aware of time if you easily are spaced out often and lose track.
HabitShare (Free)
A habit tracker which you can either go solo or with friends (Send me a message and I'll add you to my list!), Has the ability to set habits you want to achieve (eg Study Market Research) and has a Streak feature which your friends can see. The accountability aspect of someone else seeing your streak really helps.
Alarmy (Free with paid Pro version without that many extra features worth paying for)
A very gruesome alarm clock, with features as Do math(from easy to hard) to set the alarm off, to scan a barcode, or do squats and walk etc., with really loud alarms (Don't put something pleasant if you have a tendency to sleep through ,and keep your phone away from you!
What I do though, is keep my phone next to me, BUT to set off the alarm, I have to scan a barcode of a powder bottle across my room
Medito (Free)
Don't like Meditation? too silent to keep focus on the abyss of nothingness? This app has a large never ending array of guided meditions from 3 mins to 30 plus. Is a joy to use(when you actually use it) and help calm down if your mind is too cluttered to focus
Sites and Channels that help (skip to bold for the link)
What I find really unhelpful is the amount of generic and repeated, "advice" on this which often end up being not solving anything (Yes, It does help some, but if you found the need to really have to use all the extensions just below, then you probably have already heard all the said advice which I refer to.
I clearly can't speak for all and have heard a variety of spectrums of how bad someone's distractions inattentively and ruminating thoughts can lean to their productivity or, I say lack of any. Which is why I don't really think it would be helpful for me to advocate on things your supposed to be doing cause not everything is a "one size fits all".
My personal experience with that notion and the plethora of self help content I have consumed on YouTube, from people targeting a generic homogeneous audience, has fixed my mindset on a certain way of thinking for an especially long time, on what good and bad means for how I conduct myself to focus and do things which and has caused more stagnation and perfectionism than improvement.
Some do help of course alleviate some of the focus troubles, Meditation, Journaling (Diary entry if you want to use that word, whatever, you do you) and day planning the night before to name a few. I can genuinely say that you should at least try to stick to them for a month straight before disregarding them.
I got side tracked just now and lost my train of thought. Anyways..
Don't open the link below until I don't know? September? December? 2027? That would've given be plenty of time to add videos to it
A playlist of things I find to be helpful and insightful to understand and cope with distraction and Inattentiveness (CLICK HERE)
BlockSite - A Site Blocker
Block Site - Another Site Blocker (Notice that there's a space in between rather than written in one Pascal word)
StayFocused - A more intricate Site Blocker
ClickBaitRemover for YouTube - Turns all video titles into lowercase and generates a thumbnail from a video, helps lose interest from perceiving intresting videos
SponsorBlock - Just a time saver mainly, Removes sponsored segments in videos, some videos can be cut out of half their watch time from unnecessary fillers and sponsored segments
UBlock Orgin and AdBlock for YouTube - Adblocker for YT and sites in general
BlockTube - Block YT channels and Keywords altogether and more
DFtube - Removes certain distracting bit of YT, Trending page, home page and so on (customizable)
WebTime Tracker - Nothing more than a web tracker to see where you been at and for how long, Helps understand what you waste so long on(Surprise! its YouTube for me)
GreyScale the web - it literally does that, you can have browser wide or just for specific sites (which I recommend more, as you may turn it off when genuinely browsing the web and forget to turn it off{read why greyscale is good later down this post})
Old Reddit Redirect - For those Redditors out there. This makes any link that's to reddit, the older more boring looking webpage, which isn't as attractive to the eyes and makes you not feel like using it (This has helped me quite a lot, I significantly reduced mindless scrolling and rarely check up reddit now)
Turn off your phone notifications (Or at least the not so important ones)
Get a physical watch to keep track of time, I love digital ones with a timer and stopwatch (The Xiaomi MI band 4 and above are excellent smart bands without anything over the top to distract you) (a cheap watch still works wonders! they go for around 500rs which is what I bought early 2022 after my MiBand died of water damage:( )
Get a physical Alarm clock. Please Buy me a digital Alarm clock that's loud:( My analog ones barely work at times) Update: I bought one!!! it was a new analogue one ,cause the digitital ones werent that loud)
Greyscale mode (Black and White)
Personally, I find using Greyscale helps me use the phone less as its less enticing but here's an extract from WIRED for those who want a bit more to read on
It's a simple trick, but one that works on our brains, which are attracted to anything bright and shiny. According to former Google design ethicist Tristan Harris, who has founded the Center for Humane Technology, going grayscale removes positive reinforcements and dampens that urge to to keep loading up social media feeds or mobile games. The idea is to make your phone less fun to use. Instagram becomes a river of drab grayness, web articles are bland to the point of boring, and games lose all their visual appeal. Going gray has even inspired its own mini movement. Users have reported varying levels of success with the switch, but it's so easy to do that it's at least worth trying—you never know, it might transform your relationship with your phone and the apps on it. (Try Grayscale Mode to Curb Your Phone Addiction | WIRED )
If you have any troubles setting up GreyScale feel free to let me know and I'll do it for you:)
Enable Greyscale Mode in Windows 10
Open Settings.
Click on Ease of Access and click Color Filter
On the right, select Grayscale in the list of options. You can choose any other option depending on what you want.
Turn on the toggle option Turn on color filters.
Turn on the shortcut key to use (WINDOWS MENU KEY+CTRL+C)to turn it on and off whenever
Greyscale mode for Phones
ANDROID
Go to Settings on your device, then go to About Phone and then to Build Number. The Build Number has to be tapped at least 7-10 times in a complete row. You will then see a new option on your screen, You are now a developer'.(Changes based on phone)
Open the Settings again and then scroll down to find the Developer Option'.
The Developer Option must be tapped and look down for Stimulate Color Space'.
You will now see five options where you will have to select the Monochromacy.
Once you press the Home Button, you will see the new Grayscale mode.
Read more at: Here's How To Enable Grayscale Mode On Your Android Device - Gizbot News
IOS
Tap the Settings app and choose Accessibility.
Select Display Text Size.
Tap on Color Filters and toggle Color Filters on.
Tap Grayscale.
Greyscale Mode in Windows 10