Ah, the Internet: Fountain of information, smorgasbord of entertainment, nexus of social networking. Oh, and bane to productivity.

As anyone who’s procrastinated in the past decade knows, the Internet’s vast stores of instantly accessible content are nigh irresistible…especially when you’ve got work that needs doing. A few years back, I covered Think, a utility that visually blocks out all but the current program, and there’s also WriteRoom, a full-screen word processor for focusing on your writing. But while these utilities can help hide other programs, they can’t save you from yourself. That’s where Freedom comes in.

3.5 mice.  Not bad, but I’d argue Freedom is a 4 mouse program at least!

Freedom also got a little coverage in the USA Today article Some ditch social networks to reclaim time, privacy, a front page feature.

One antidote to the always-on life is Freedom, free software that disables any Apple computer’s Internet access for up to eight hours. About 100,000 Web users have downloaded Freedom since 2008, says Fred Stutzman, a graduate student in information sciences at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the program’s creator.

“Freedom is a statement that it’s OK to push back from this tide of technology and find some space to really think,” he says.

I need to update the sidebar!

Here’s the breakdown of where the money went:

• I completed one “custom build” of Freedom for a generous donor who sent $150.00 to Médecins Sans Frontières, earmarked for Haiti Relief
• There were 20 Freedom registrations for a total of $200.00 sent to the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund (I covered the fees PayPal charges me).

All I can say is thank you!

Register/donate here.

Please register your copy of Freedom and support those in desperate need.

Is this the future of how we communicate with each other? Telling your spouse you want a divorce … on Facebook? Inflicting 25 Things That People Don’t Want to Know About You on unsuspecting friends? In exchange for the “six degrees of separation,” we may have just created a new level of navel-gazing.

But leave it to the Internet: There’s now an app that will help you save yourself from … yourself! Can’t stop yourself from tweeting, updating or blogging? “Freedom” will do it for you: The program, developed by grad student Fred Stutzman, will block your Internet access for up to eight hours.

Stutzman told The New York Times, “We’re moving toward this era where we’ll never be able to escape from the cloud. I realized the only way to fight back was at an individual, personal level.”

Cool!  In other news, I am working on a version 0.5.2 of Freedom that I hope to release in the next few weeks.  It has some features that will make a number of you happy!

Link to the show (direct MP3 download)

The segment on Freedom is about 30 minutes in.  I enjoyed hearing Peggy talk about her work on the article, and her use of Freedom.

Via Academic Productivity

Peggy Orenstein writes:

And that is why I need the mast. It came in the form of an app called Freedom, which blocks your Internet access for up to eight hours at a stretch. The only way to get back online is to reboot your computer, which — though not as foolproof as, say, removing the modem entirely and overnighting it to yourself (another strategy I’ve contemplated) — is cumbersome and humiliating enough to be an effective deterrent. The program was developed by Fred Stutzman, a graduate student in information and library science, whose own failsafe self-binding technique — writing at a cafe without Internet access — came undone when the place went wireless. “We’re moving toward this era where we’ll never be able to escape from the cloud,” he told me. “I realized the only way to fight back was at an individual, personal level.”

Freedom, which runs only on Macs, is downloaded more than 4,000 times a month. Stutzman says this mass-erosion of our self-control was inevitable, as the instrument of our productivity merged with that of our distraction: since computers have expanded from mere business tools to full-service entertainment centers. But I think there’s something deeper going on as well. Those mythical bird-women (look it up) didn’t seduce with beauty or carnality — not with petty diversions — but with the promise of unending knowledge. “Over all the generous earth we know everything that happens,” they crooned to passing ships, vowing that any sailor who heeded their voices would emerge a “wiser man.” That is precisely the draw of the Internet.

Thank you all supporters of Freedom!

Also – if you want to follow me on Twitter, I’m @fstutzman.  Forewarned, most of my tweets are about my research, but I will announce new releases and other Freedom-related stuff there.

Thanks to Leif Hansen of http://www.sparkinteraction.com/ for the mention.  Leif is a longtime supporter of Freedom.  This show also features Annalee Newitz, one of my favorite writers on technology and culture.

Lately, I’ve discovered that micro-bursts – 10- or 15-minute Freedom sessions – are a great way to beat procrastination, writer’s block, or simple inertia.  If you are used to running Freedom for longer times, try a micro-burst when you need to break an unproductive streak.  If it helps, you can start chaining micro-bursts together – Freedom allows you to re-enter a session with the same time parameters when your Freedom session expires.

It is amazing how different 5 or 6 10-minute Freedom sessions chained together can feel, as opposed to an hour long session.  So next time you need a boost, give a shorter session a try.

Freedom’s design philosophy centers around the “complete block,” so the main program will remain that way.  The custom build is a unique, individual modification of the program for your needs.  Freedom, of course, remains free – but a custom build requires programming effort, which costs $250 US.  In return, you’ll get your own version of Freedom and a 5-seat license you can share with friends.

If you are interested in a custom build, please email me – fred at fredstutzman.com – and describe your needs.

“One Mac app that has found a way to solve this problem is called Freedom, which blocks all of your computer’s networking functions for a pre-determined number of minutes. In other words, once you set it, you’ve got no Web, no instant messaging, no e-mail — and the only way to undo Freedom’s block before the time runs out is to restart your machine.”

Freedom also garnered a mention on Mashable, in a post on 20 productivity tools for Mac users:

“Sometimes the Internet is more of a distraction than it is a productivity aid. For those times, the best solution is just to unplug. Freedom will turn off your Mac’s networking card for up to 8 hours, so you can get what you need to get done done, without the distraction of Facebook, Twitter and the latest viral videos.

Obviously, as a web writer, this doesn’t really work for me during the work week, but it’s great for when I’m on a deadline — like trying to finish an article of 20+ Mac productivity tools!”

Mac Freedom turns off your web for a given period of time. Used it this morning. Got more work done. http://macfreedom.com/ – @sandersonjones

Addicted to Facebook, Twitter or browsing the internet? If you have a Mac (and everyone should) check I out: www.macfreedom.com – @jcarbest

if you should be working instead of checking status messages and you’re on a mac, meet your new best friend = freedom http://macfreedom.com/ – @kevinconroy

http://macfreedom.com/ http://macfreedom.com/ http://macfreedom.com/ http://macfreedom.com/ http://macfreedom.com/ http://macfreedom.com/ – @adamconover

Thanks again 4 Freedom @fstuzman ! Its really helping me GSD. http://macfreedom.com/ – @BrianR

Are you on a Mac and should be working instead of reading my tweets? Checkout Freedom http://macfreedom.com/ – @jackielang

Thanks to brilliant anti-browsing software http://macfreedom.com I did five hours straight writing this morning! Yay! Euge! – @CarolineLawrenc

If you’re the “owner” of one of these Tweets, drop me a line and I’ll send you a free code for blabbing about Freedom.  Also, Freedom in Rebook:

Freedom in Redbook Mag

• Ruth Ozeki, award-winning writer of “All Over Creation” and “My Year of Meats” writes of Freedom, “I don’t usually endorse products, but this one is terrific.”
• The playwright Amy Wilson, whose new show Mother Load opens tomorrow in NYC, says Freedom is “the most wonderful software ever invented.”
• On Twitter, Maureen Johnson (The Key to the Golden Firebird, Suite Scarlett) gave Freedom a nice shout-out.
• Hope Larson, author of Chiggers, Twitters that she’s using Freedom to get away from Twitter.
• Other nice Tweets from Melissa Oliveira, John Bucher of BCBusiness Magazine, Malinda Lo and Elizabeth Marks.