How To Turn Off Internet Access at Night

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Having access to the internet at all times is a given nowadays. However, this might not be a positive thing in every circumstance. For instance, browsing social media at night might mess with your sleep schedule and affect your productivity the next day.

Turning your internet off at night can greatly improve your sleep as well as your energy the next day. It’s also an important measure for parental control and network security while you sleep. So let’s dive into how you can turn off internet access at night.

Benefits of limiting WiFi access at night

If you work from home, you most likely already spend most of your day using the internet. Taking measures to protect yourself from excess internet usage during down time can greatly boost your health by improving your sleep schedule. It’s one of many steps you can take to improve your mental health.

Additionally, if there are any minors in your household, turning the internet off at night might prevent them from using the internet unsupervised.

Ways to turn off WiFi access at night or other designated times

There are many different ways to schedule how your network functions at any given time, from limiting a few websites to completely shutting down internet access. Note that most of these require some technical knowledge to execute.

Using Router Scheduling Features

Every router has different settings and a different interface, so checking online for a manual is the best way to find out exactly how to change your settings. However, most routers will follow the same steps with some minor tweaks.

1. Access your router.
2. Login to your router.
3. Navigate to the device settings.
4. Look for scheduling features.
5. Adjust the settings to your needs.
6. Save settings.
7. Test your device with the new settings.

Often, you can access your router by typing 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 into your web browser. The default login can vary, but it’s usually either on the device itself, on a sticker, or on the manual.

Implementing Firewall Restrictions

Firewall settings can help you to completely disable internet access, but they can also help you block certain websites from your network. It’s a great way to completely block social media access to improve productivity without completely shutting off internet access.

1. Access your router.
2. Login to your router.
3. Navigate to the device settings.
4. Look for firewall settings.
5. Enable your firewall.

Once your firewall is enabled, you can follow your router’s manual to add rules for either blocking specific websites or completely blocking internet access. If you use fiber optic internet but prefer to block heavy network usage websites like streaming websites, adding a firewall rule to block them is the way to go.

Altering Proxy Settings for Internet Access

Changing your proxy settings is another alternative to completely blocking internet access. However, many routers don’t offer options for proxy configuration. 

If you follow the steps to access your router settings and find the option, you can simply change the proxy address to “fakeproxy” or “127.0.0.1” with the port set to 80. This can also be done directly on many devices, like Windows computers. To change the proxy on Windows, follow the steps below.

1. Open your Start menu.
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Go to Internet Options.
4. Navigate to the Connections tab.
5. Click on LAN settings at the bottom.
6. Check the Use a proxy server box.
7. Check the Bypass Proxy box.
8. Add 127.0.0.1 to the address.
9. Add 80 to the port.
10. Click Ok to apply settings.