Guide

How to block social media while working.

A quick check of one feed pulls you into three more, and your focus is gone. Here is how to block X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Reddit for free, with a blocker that turns on the second you start a work round and off the moment you stop.

Why does social media break your focus?

Social feeds are designed to never end. There is always one more post, one more reply, one more notification dot. Each open feed is a small decision you have to win over and over, and you will not win every time. The reliable answer is to remove the decision during work: if the site will not load, there is nothing to resist. Then it comes back when you are done.

How do you block all of them at once?

You do not want to block one site at a time every morning. The better setup is a single blocklist that holds all your social sites, tied to your work timer so it switches on automatically. GoFlow does this with a free timer and a free Focus Guard extension that share one list. Add your sites once and every future round respects them.

Step by step

1. Open GoFlow. Go to goflow.space/app in your browser. There is no sign-up.
2. Get the free Focus Guard extension. In GoFlow, open Settings and click Download Focus Guard. Extract the downloaded file to get a folder.
3. Load it in your browser. In Chrome, Edge, or Brave, open the extensions page, turn on Developer mode, click Load unpacked, and pick the extracted folder. It takes about a minute and needs no store account.
4. Add your social sites. Back in GoFlow, add the ones that pull you off task: x.com, instagram.com, facebook.com, tiktok.com, reddit.com.
5. Start a round. The instant a work round begins, all of them are blocked across every tab. When the round ends or you take a break, they open back up.

Which sites should you block first?

Start with the two or three that cost you the most time, not all of them at once. For most people that is the feed they open without thinking. Add the rest over a week as you notice where your hand drifts. The table below covers the usual suspects.

What if you keep reaching for your phone?

Blocking sites on your computer fixes most of the leak, but the phone in your pocket is the other half. GoFlow's blocker runs on desktop browsers, so it will not lock your phone apps. The simple fix that pairs well with it: put your phone in another room or in a drawer while a round runs. Out of reach beats out of sight. Many people find that once the desktop feeds are blocked and the phone is across the room, the urge to check fades within a few minutes because there is nothing easy to reach for.

You can also use longer rounds to make the habit stick. A 25-minute round is easy to start, but a 50-minute round trains you to sit with the work past the first wave of restlessness, which is usually when the hand reaches for a feed. Block the sites, park the phone, set a slightly longer round, and the pull gets weaker every session.

A note on how blocking works

A normal web page cannot block other sites for security reasons, which is why blocking lives in a small browser extension. GoFlow's Focus Guard is free, keeps your list on your device, and never tracks your browsing. The app and the extension share one list, so you manage everything in one place.

Common questions

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