Website Blockers for ADHD: 5 Setups Sorted by How You'll Defeat Them

You installed a website blocker on Sunday night, full of resolve. By Tuesday afternoon you had disabled it "just to check one thing," and by Thursday it was gone. This is the normal life cycle of a website blocker for ADHD, and it has very little to do with which blocker you chose. It has everything to do with the escape route you take, which the blocker was not built to close.

So this guide starts with the uncomfortable question, then matches five setups to five escape routes. Most are free. A couple cost a one-time fee or a few dollars a month. All of them are more effective than the one you picked because it was top of the list.

The honest question: how will you get around it?

You have defeated blockers before. Think about how. Not in theory; the actual thing you did last time.

• You switched it off. The extension had a toggle, and you toggled it. You need a lock (Setup 3).
• You switched devices. The laptop was blocked, so you picked up the phone, or the tablet. You need device-level or router-level rules (Setups 4 and 5).
• You opened a different browser, or an incognito window. Extension blockers only live in one browser. You need something below the browser (Setup 5).
• You "just checked one thing." There was no plan to leave; one tab led to forty. You need friction, not a wall (Setup 2).
• You did it at the same time every day. After lunch, at 9 p.m., during the lecture. Your problem has a timetable, and so should your blocker (Setup 1).

Most people have one main route and one backup. Build for the main one first. Our answer on digital ADHD tools for time, reminders and focus covers where blockers sit in a wider setup; the rest of this post is about the blockers themselves.

Setups 1 and 2: schedule-based blocks and friction blocks

Setup 1: schedule-based blocks for class and work hours. A list of sites is unreachable during set hours and open the rest of the time. Free browser extensions such as LeechBlock and StayFocusd do this well, and the built-in Downtime feature in Screen Time on Apple devices does a cruder version across the whole device. Paid desktop apps add schedules that cover every browser at once. This suits people whose distraction has a time of day. It is defeated by switching the schedule off outside hours and forgetting to switch it back on, so turn on whatever lock-down or password option the tool offers and set the schedule for the whole term in one sitting. The post on dealing with distractions in class pairs well with this one.

Setup 2: friction blocks that make you wait. Instead of a wall, the site opens after a delay: a ten-second breathing screen, a question asking whether you still want to go, or a page that loads slowly on purpose. Apps such as one sec and several browser extensions work this way, and the "ask for more time" prompt in Screen Time is a built-in version. This suits the "just one thing" route, because the impulse often does not survive ten seconds. It is defeated by waiting it out, so increase the delay when you notice yourself doing that, and combine it with a schedule for the hours that matter.

Setup 3: accountability blocks with a partner's code

If your route is the toggle, the only fix is a toggle you cannot reach. Someone else sets the password. Paid blockers offer a locked mode where changes need a code or take effect only after a delay; the free version is to let a friend set the Screen Time passcode on your phone or the lock password in your extension and not tell you.

1. Pick the person. A friend or sibling is better than a partner for adults, because this creates a small power dynamic and partners already have enough of those. For teens, a parent holding the Screen Time or Family Link code is the standard arrangement.
2. Agree the release rule in writing: a text that names the reason, and a fifteen-minute wait before they reply. "I need to check the group chat" does not qualify. "The assignment portal is on the blocked list" does.
3. Agree a review date, a month out, when the list and the rule get adjusted.

This setup is defeated by nagging the code-holder and by uninstalling and reinstalling the tool. Choose a tool that survives a reinstall with the lock intact, and choose a code-holder who enjoys saying no.

Setups 4 and 5: router-level and device-level limits

Setup 4: router-level limits. The home Wi-Fi blocks or pauses sites for a device, or every device, at set hours. Most ISP router apps in Canada, including the ones from the large national providers, now offer per-device profiles with pause and schedule features; mesh systems and dedicated parental-control routers go further. This catches the switched-devices route at home, because the tablet in the bedroom is on the same Wi-Fi. It is defeated by mobile data, so pair it with phone limits, and by knowing the router password, so a partner or flatmate holds it. It is also the best setup for a household with a teen, where the evening rule should apply to every screen in the house rather than one. The post on managing screen time and distractions for teens with ADHD covers the conversation that needs to happen first.

Setup 5: device-level limits. Rules set in the operating system, below any browser. On Apple devices, Screen Time's web content restrictions and app limits apply to every browser and to private windows. On Android, Digital Wellbeing and Family Link do the equivalent. Windows and Mac have their own family-safety tools. This closes the different-browser and incognito routes. It is defeated by knowing the passcode, which brings you back to Setup 3, or to the paper-key trick: generate a random passcode, write it on paper, put the paper in a drawer at the far end of the home, and do not memorise it. Retrieving it is possible, which is fine. It just takes a walk.

Allow-lists for research without the rabbit hole

Block-lists fail on research days, because the thing you need is on the same site as the thing that eats the afternoon. An allow-list flips the logic: everything is blocked except a short list. Most paid blockers and LeechBlock support this directly, and Screen Time's "allowed websites only" setting is a built-in version.

• Build the list from last week. Open your browser history, pull out the sites you actually used for work or study (the course portal, the library databases, the document editor, the citation tool) and start with those.
• Add new sites with a delay. Set the tool so a new allowed site takes ten minutes to activate. Most "I need this site" moments are over by then.
• Park the rabbit holes. A read-later list or a bookmarks folder named "after 5" lets you save the interesting link without following it. Defer rather than deny; the brain accepts "later" more readily than "never."

If you are choosing tools for a whole program rather than one term, our answer on what to look for when choosing ADHD tools for college lists the questions to ask before paying for anything.

What to try this week

1. Write down, honestly, how you beat the last blocker. That sentence picks your setup.
2. Install or enable only that setup tonight. One free tool, one schedule, one list. Do not stack three.
3. If your route is the toggle, text the code-holder before you set anything up, and agree the release rule first.
4. Review in fourteen days: what route did you take this time? Build for that one next.