2-4 is still probably less than the number of times people visit this site. It's my mistake for not being more clear about this, but I also feel it's less harmful to go out than to visit here. At least going out constitutes a concrete block of time, leaving you with a big block of time to get work done when you get back. On the other hand, many small visits to this site only serve as interruptions to your flow, never allowing you to have a big block of time for work.
A friend once remarked to me that one of his 'cures for procrastination' is to do something only mildly distracting, and mildly amusing, after sitting down to work and both taking on any big problems. He says it takes some time to get settled, but he needs to feel a sort of mental presence of a problem before he can really tackle it.
Perhaps the right type of break is the same way: perhaps it lets you cool it and evaluate your issues before tackling them, instead of following the path of least resistance.
I seem to be highly susceptible to spelling issues and one word omissions while sleep deprived. PG, if you're reading this, consider allowing very small (~one word) edits after posts have persisted.
It's only a hunch, but perhaps after a certain point in time, you could change 'edit' to correct. Upon clicking correct, each word or space (to insert a word or two) becomes hyperlinkable, and if you click on it, you can do inline edits. Validate the changes in javascript, apply when a button is pressed, or focus is lost.
That's probably true. Complete changes in environment seems to clear the distraction build up better than surfing. Plus, surfing easily turns into "just one more page."
