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Social media is designed to be addictive. Here’s how to take back control.

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Quick Setup — Block the Big Sites

Adding social media sites to the blacklist

  1. Open FocusMe and click Add a Plan
  2. Set the rule mode to Block (or Time Limit if you want a daily budget)
  3. Choose Block Some Websites and add:
  1. Set your timing mode — e.g., Weekly Schedule, Monday to Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM
  2. Add protection — at least Password to prevent yourself from disabling it
  3. Name it “Social Media Block” and click Done

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Block the Apps Too

Social media has desktop apps and Windows Store apps. Block the websites and the applications for complete coverage:
  1. In the same plan, click Next to go to the Applications page
  2. Add these common social media apps:
Use the Helper Tool to find the exact process name of any app. Right-click the FocusMe tray icon → Helper while the app is open.

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Allow a Daily Budget Instead

If you don’t want to block social media entirely, use a Time Limit instead of Block:
  1. Set the rule mode to Time Limit
  2. Set 30 minutes per day (or whatever feels right)
  3. FocusMe tracks your actual usage and blocks when the budget runs out
This lets you check social media on breaks without losing entire hours to doomscrolling.

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Block YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels

You can block specific addictive features while allowing the rest of the platform:
  • Block youtube.com/shorts — blocks Shorts but allows regular YouTube
  • Block by window title containing Reels — catches Instagram Reels
See the YouTube Shorts guide →

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Make It Stick

The biggest risk is that future-you will disable the plan. Use protection:
  • Password — give the password to someone you trust
  • Random Characters — the friction of typing 50+ characters stops impulsive disabling
  • Enforced — the nuclear option: you genuinely cannot disable it until the schedule ends