horizon

About

Browse the internet more intentionally. Build better habits and improve your relationship with technology.

Have you ever sat down in front of your computer to work on some important task, only to find yourself, five or ten minutes later, scrolling through social media or watching unrelated videos? It's useful to have a tool that can do many things, but most of us excel when we focus on exactly one task at a time.

Enter Horizon. Horizon guides you to clearly state your task up front, then pick exactly which tools you want to use and estimate about how long you want to work. From there, you start your browser focus session, where Horizon blocks unrelated distracting sites so you can do what you set out to do. When your session ends, Horizon forces you to take a short break (1-3 minutes) so you can gather your thoughts, perhaps stretch a bit, and then decide whether to continue on or do something else.

Horizon works great for recreational use as well - for instance, if you want to watch some videos, read the news, or use social media, you can start a session to do just that. The intention setting practice and the time bound session will help you ensure you don't fall down the rabbit hole, letting you stay connected, informed, or entertained without losing hours and hours to addictive platforms.

Horizon differs a little bit from other similar tools, which treat the whole internet as open and allow you to block selectively (a "block list" approach). Horizon instead blocks the internet by default and forces you to "allow". This inversion is subtle but generally places more burden on you to really think about why you are in front of your computer (instead of say, with your friends, outside on a walk, or doing anything else).

It's the tool I wanted and couldn't find, so I built it myself. Personally, I do not use horizon on my work devices where my focus often shifts according to the demands of the hour. I use it on my personal devices to make the internet less addictive and distracting, so I can work on fulfilling projects without spending more of my time online than I intend to.