Restrict Distracting Websites Within Specific Timeframe In Chrome [Extension]

Users often spend too much time on YouTube, Facebook, etc and later suffer from sleep deprivation or associated symptoms as they run short of time to rest. Such problems lead to disastrous effects including health problems and even to the death of a Chinese man who died due to playing games for three days on Facebook (as reported by Fox News). Chrome Nanny is a Chrome extension which allows you to block URLs according to a defined time frame.  For example, if you think that you are addictively spending too much time on Facebook, then you can block Facebook e.g. from 9AM-5PM or according to a defined maximum time and day length. You can also add URLs to block sets, create block sets with defined limitations, and use regular expressions to block a website from the Options menu. Furthermore, you can also review statistics regarding the time you spent on websites.To start off, select options to set your block settings by clicking on the Chrome Nanny residing next to the address bar. From the Blocked URLs tab, create a block set with pre-defined rules (e.g. time and day limitations) and add URLs to block. For example, you can create a block set to block websites from 1pm-5pm on weekdays or simply add websites to the block list.

You can exclude websites from such regulations from the Whitelisted URLs tab. These may include domains or sub-domains that you would like to exempt from the list of blocked websites. It also allows creating tags for identifying block sets. A tag for instance may be called streaming websites and may be attached to a blockset that blocks such websites (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo, MegaVideo, etc)

From General Options tab, set the response to the blocked websites during the timeframe when they are blocked, such as, close the tab automatically, show a message for the blocked website, and redirection to another websites.

The LockDown tab allows setting lock down duration, whereas, Validate Regular Expressions tab allows setting domains or sub-domains for blocking. For example, you can add asterisk (*) to the blocked websites to block all related domains. A URL such as www.google.* can enable blocking google.com, google.co.uk, etc.

Install Chrome Nanny extension for Chrome