The "Hot Network Questions" sidebar is a really nice toy when I browse Stack Exchange for fun, but it never helped me when working and using the serious Q&A aspect of, say, Stack Overflow.
It is purposefully distracting, luring one to other corners of Stack Exchange. One quarter of (my) screen estate covered by off-topic (by definition) links and texts. They draw the eye especially since there is hardly any visual separation between them and the very useful "Related" topics sidebar.
I usually skim right over "Related" and suffer some serious mental gear clashing before I realize that I had "gone too far".
Would it be possible to add a button to deactivate those links? Maybe just for an hour or two? Optimally a setting which allows to specify a time one doesn't want to be distracted. Like 9-5 on Workdays or similar.
Edit for clarification: I am not looking for some browser hack or plugin or advice on mental disorders. This is just a feature request.