What do you guys do to get yourself off any social networking site (ex. facebook, twitter) and start studying? Like I'm so not motivated to do anything and I absolutely hate studying. Exam is on Thursday :(

Deactivate, stayfocusd, go somewhere without wifi, get friends to help enforce the ban... I dunno?

There is sites that block internet access or whatever websites you want for a certain amount of time. I'd say block internet for an hour, then go back to whatever you want to do, you'll get bored within 10 minutes, then block it all again.

Yea you should probably deactivate facebook until you finish exams. Facebook is one of the biggest distractions ever, i usually deactivate my account for couple of months during the year just to focus on school.
I posted this video last year or so because the guy is simply amazing. He really motivated me to work harder during exams:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkltJT6PQ-g

In general, motivation comes from within us, but it never hurts to get some motivation from other people if they can help!

Yea you should probably deactivate facebook until you finish exams. Facebook is one of the biggest distractions ever, i usually deactivate my account for couple of months during the year just to focus on school.
I posted this video last year or so because the guy is simply amazing. He really motivated me to work harder during exams:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkltJT6PQ-g

In general, motivation comes from within us, but it never hurts to get some motivation from other people if they can help!

Jim1!!!! I've been expecting your comment!! *insert evil laugh*
Thanks man that vid is awesome gonna try and have the heart to deactivate facebook ^.^

None of those deactivating etc. will motivate you
Even if you dont go on facebook etc you'll find it extremely difficult to stay focused while pretending to be studying.
But trust me, once you truly realize which situation you are in and what you really wanna do in future, you wont need any external motivation to stay focused.
I was a very heavy game player but now i dont even need to delete the game to stay away from it during midterms/exams.
I kinda enjoy studying more than i play games now

http://macfreedom.com/

is a life saver. sad. but true.

What's a social network?

Is that the thing you keep checking hoping someone contacts you?

Is that the thing where you collect like 100 "friends", even tho you probably only talk to like a dozen people most of time anyway?

Is that the thing that contains your private information and is vulnerable to third parties?

Since when it's not enough to keep all your contacts in your cell phone? Since when a simple SMS message became less sufficient than even shorter Twitter message? Since when things like Facebook and Twitter are more easily accessible than those SMS messages?

Get yourself off that drug you call social network, and there problem solved.

Just follow these steps, it works every time

- Say you have plenty of time left to study
- Netflix
- Feel guilty you haven't started yet
- Open the textbook
- Take a 5 hour break
- Look at the clock
- Panic
- Panic some more and sob loudly into pillow
- Realize there's no time left
- Cram like mad
- ???
- Pass exam

Great question Quinta! And one that I've seen people struggle with a lot (in fact, some users even deactivate their MacInsiders accounts since they are addicted to the forums!). But keep in mind, you can use these forums for help as well when you're studying

To temporarily get rid of those distracting social networks Facebook and Twitter.. One option is LeechBlock, a Firefox add-on that is designed to "block those time-wasting sites that can suck the life out of your working day" - You'll need to be using firefox as your main browser for this to work though. But it comes in handy!

For a paid solution, there's a $15 program called Anti-Social that blocks "distracting" social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, as well as any other sites you specify.

Or if you don't want to block anything, but just want to put yourself to shame, you can use something like RescueTime which tracks what you're on throughout the day and gives you a report for you to see how much time you wasted on those sites so you feel so bad about it you might be able to stop yourself cold turkey (or at least that is the hope lol)

Great question Quinta! And one that I've seen people struggle with a lot (in fact, some users even deactivate their MacInsiders accounts since they are addicted to the forums!). But keep in mind, you can use these forums for help as well when you're studying

To temporarily get rid of those distracting social networks Facebook and Twitter.. One option is LeechBlock, a Firefox add-on that is designed to "block those time-wasting sites that can suck the life out of your working day" - You'll need to be using firefox as your main browser for this to work though. But it comes in handy!

For a paid solution, there's a $15 program called Anti-Social that blocks "distracting" social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, as well as any other sites you specify.

Or if you don't want to block anything, but just want to put yourself to shame, you can use something like RescueTime which tracks what you're on throughout the day and gives you a report for you to see how much time you wasted on those sites so you feel so bad about it you might be able to stop yourself cold turkey (or at least that is the hope lol)

Thank youuu for all the help! I really appreciate it I don't think I can deactivate my MI account I love it too much (maybe more than facebook?) hehe but I'll discipline myself by studying hard then going on MI as a reward

It's good to take breaks between study sessions, even a little Twitter, FB or MI is okay as long as you keep it brief. What I do is write down on a paper what I want to do while on Twitter, or FB, or MI. For instance, Facebook Goals 1) Contact Family for Christmas Party 2) See how my BFF is doing, and what she is doing on Christmas.... That might help.. but everyone is different. Social Media is a tool like everything else, once you finish what you need to do, it's easier to stop I find, instead if mindlessly surfing. This applies for Computer Time, TV Time, Console Time, Shopping etc. I hope that helps. Good luck with your exams.

I may be in the minority, but those sites/programs don't help me because if I'm looking for a distraction, I'll find one.

All you can do is set manageable goals ("Today, I will focus on chapters 6 and 7 and do practice questions) and hone your self-control until you are able to focus on your own. I totally agree that having long-term goals will help with this, because you see an endgame. Good luck on finals!