A comment said one needs a goal first, which is true. I’ll call that goal a “question”.
Doing so partially solves the problem of what I call the Delegation of Curiosity: when someone or something implants a question in your head that you feel compelled to have the answer to by passively consuming the contents proposed by the invader.
This happens because you delegate your curiosity to something external; your questions/curiosity controls you, and so delegating it means someone else controlling you.
Moreover, discovering an answer by oneself through active efforts means you’ll be more grateful for it, be more likely to apply it and remember it better.
Moreover, when in a state of boredom you’re susceptible to the Delegation.
It’s then a good idea to exit the web browser or internet instantly. Make it a habit to be done upon Noticing. This can be done physically (preferable), by walking away from the device, or virtually, by closing it.
Beforehand, make sure the browser is as distant as possible from access, and disable any features or facilitators of access that might shorten that gap. Example, by putting it inside many folders with no shortcuts that lead there.
There’s still the problem of Potentially Relevant Information, when you don’t know whether info that lies beyond a question is relevant; it might be.
I found that generalizing the question and getting a grip on the terminology and history of the things involved with it help to predict whether you’ll find what you seek and which words to use. Encyclopedias, such as those of Philosophy like Stanford Plato, help.
It must be media in text format, preferably with an index, so you can more easily find what you need by reading just the headers or first lines of the paragraphs.
A comment said one needs a goal first, which is true. I’ll call that goal a “question”.
Doing so partially solves the problem of what I call the Delegation of Curiosity: when someone or something implants a question in your head that you feel compelled to have the answer to by passively consuming the contents proposed by the invader.
This happens because you delegate your curiosity to something external; your questions/curiosity controls you, and so delegating it means someone else controlling you.
Moreover, discovering an answer by oneself through active efforts means you’ll be more grateful for it, be more likely to apply it and remember it better.
Moreover, when in a state of boredom you’re susceptible to the Delegation.
It’s then a good idea to exit the web browser or internet instantly. Make it a habit to be done upon Noticing. This can be done physically (preferable), by walking away from the device, or virtually, by closing it.
Beforehand, make sure the browser is as distant as possible from access, and disable any features or facilitators of access that might shorten that gap. Example, by putting it inside many folders with no shortcuts that lead there.
There’s still the problem of Potentially Relevant Information, when you don’t know whether info that lies beyond a question is relevant; it might be.
I found that generalizing the question and getting a grip on the terminology and history of the things involved with it help to predict whether you’ll find what you seek and which words to use. Encyclopedias, such as those of Philosophy like Stanford Plato, help.
It must be media in text format, preferably with an index, so you can more easily find what you need by reading just the headers or first lines of the paragraphs.