Last month I ran an experiment: I blocked every algorithmic feed on my Mac for two weeks straight. Twitter, Reddit, YouTube recommendations, Hacker News — all of it. Gone.
Here's what happened.
The Problem
I kept telling myself I was "taking a quick break" between coding sessions. Open a new tab, check Twitter, scroll Reddit for 5 minutes. Except it was never 5 minutes. I'd surface 30 minutes later having read three flame wars about framework choices and retained nothing useful.
Sound familiar?
The Setup
I used Monk Mode — it's a Mac app that blocks distracting feeds at the content level, not just the domain level. So I could still access Twitter to post or check DMs, but the infinite scroll feed was just... gone. Same with Reddit, YouTube sidebar recommendations, all of it.
The key difference from a regular site blocker: it doesn't block the whole site. It surgically removes the addictive feed component. You keep the utility, lose the time sink.
What Actually Changed
Week 1 was rough. I caught myself opening new tabs reflexively maybe 40 times a day. Each time — blocked feed, nothing to scroll. I'd close the tab and go back to my editor. The muscle memory was embarrassing.
Week 2 the tab-opening reflex started dying. I stopped reaching for distractions between tasks and instead just... started the next task. My git commit frequency went up noticeably. I shipped a feature I'd been "almost done" with for two weeks.
The Numbers
I tracked everything with Toggl:
- Before: ~4.2 hours of actual coding per 8-hour "work day"
- After: ~7.1 hours of actual coding per 8-hour work day
- PR velocity: Went from 3-4 PRs/week to 7-8 PRs/week
That's not "doubled" in a rigorous scientific sense, but it felt like a completely different level of output.
The Takeaway
The feeds aren't just wasting your time while you're on them. They're fragmenting your attention for the entire day. Every scroll session resets your focus timer. Blocking them didn't just give me back the scroll time — it gave me back the deep work sessions between them.
If you're a dev struggling with output, try it for a week. Block the feeds, not the sites. See what happens.
What's your biggest productivity killer? Drop it in the comments — curious if feeds are as universal a problem as I think they are.
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