Haha, definetely needed.
Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”
51–60 of 135 posts
Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”
#52This is cute, but in all seriousness it would be much more effective to shout "I'm a winner" Research: - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3354773/ – Low self-esteem + rejection hurts self-control - https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2007_Power... – Self-criticism predicts less goal progress - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9916102/ – Social exclusion slows inhibitory control - https:/…
For sure, important to be kind to yourself.
But screaming "I'm a winner" doesn't do it either, and is perhaps even more undermining
Everyone knows if you yourself have to say "I'm randomPositiveAttribute", whether it is "winner", "genius", "brilliant", "good-looking", etc., you are NOT that — you are just a loser trying to tell everyone you are somehow a winner.
Perhaps the best thing to yell is the most straightforward — "Unlock Social Media Now!". It doesn't overtly characterize you, it honestly exposes your weakness, which is probably a more powerful shaming de-motivator.
Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”
#53That volume bar could be labeled "Humiliation:"
Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
> you aren't a winner if you are unlocking social media. You are opening the gate to loserdom That is not a psychologically healthy way to frame this. And I think it’s a stretch to say that screaming “I’m a loser” is positive punishment, which seems just as likely to reinforce negative self beliefs that lead to the outcomes described in the parent comment’s research and opposite of what the user presumably wants. To…
Positive in the conditioning sense just means "something you have to do" where a negative punishment would be something being removed. It doesn't specify if the outcome is bad or good
Fair. I was conflating this with positive reinforcement, and the nuance of the terminology got a bit mixed up.
To your last point, I think the conclusion remains similar. Even if yelling “I’m a loser” qualifies as “something you have to do”, it seems unlikely to be an effective “punishment” in that framework for the reasons explored above.
Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your not wrong, I do agree. But for a pet-project, it's a bit of fun? Or should we just face it. Everyone is a loser for using social media?
This just doesn’t land for me. Quite a bit of social media use happens for perfectly good reasons. Organizing local events, finding and attending local events, meeting people in other regions who care about a common cause, etc. What tends to distress people is that social media is also a toxic hellscape that simultaneously stresses them out and addicts them by playing on their evolutionary instincts and needs for soc…
I use none of Social Media other than HN, which could be classified as such.
I know and see the damage upon. We've let social media control us.
Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
> you aren't a winner if you are unlocking social media. You are opening the gate to loserdom That is not a psychologically healthy way to frame this. And I think it’s a stretch to say that screaming “I’m a loser” is positive punishment, which seems just as likely to reinforce negative self beliefs that lead to the outcomes described in the parent comment’s research and opposite of what the user presumably wants. To…
> To your point, just flipping this around to “I’m a winner” doesn’t seem quite right either. But more importantly, reinforcing the idea that “I’m a loser” seems counterproductive either way. Maybe the solution would be to have to shout something embarrassing but not deprecating towards your own self-worth. Like “I eat spaghetti through my nose” or “my poop comes out really soft”. You’d certainly avoid using social m…
I think the issue is more broad though.
While a “punishment” that involves calling oneself a loser is a problem, the entire approach of punishment-based learning has given way to reinforcement approaches because they tend to be more effective in the long term without the negative effects of punishment-based approaches.
To put this another way, using punishment to stop using social media is probably not a good approach either way. Yelling “I’m a loser” is just one of the worst variants of this specific approach.
Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”
#57If you want to make a kids app... Forcing the child to do a number of math problems to continue using the tablet would be an amazing app that I would definitely pay for. My daughter is a second grader. If every 5 minutes of tablet use 'cost' her 5 correct arithmetic answers she would be working at space x right now.
Might I suggest https://www.prodigygame.com - it's a free-to-play online math game, where your child is a wizard that has to answer (age appropriate) math questions to gain magic to cast spells. Note: there is a paid subscription that allows your child to get access to more pets / faster experience gain, but is not required.
While this isn't a "do math to be able to unlock your device" type of game, it is fun to play and can be used as an earned screen-time requirement (or a "free screen-time" option!)
Disclaimer: I work for Prodigy as a Site Reliability Engineer, but my son (10) also enjoys playing the game!
Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
This just doesn’t land for me. Quite a bit of social media use happens for perfectly good reasons. Organizing local events, finding and attending local events, meeting people in other regions who care about a common cause, etc. What tends to distress people is that social media is also a toxic hellscape that simultaneously stresses them out and addicts them by playing on their evolutionary instincts and needs for soc…
I use none of Social Media other than HN, which could be classified as such. I know and see the damage upon. We've let social media control us.
> We've let social media control us.
For most people, social media is something that happened to them, and the nature of the relationship is asymmetrical.
The companies building these products spend millions weaponizing their apps to take advantage of human psychology, while social forces have made these apps ubiquitous and part of the fabric of many people’s lives.
I don’t think it’s fair to say people “let” social media control them any more than it’s fair to say someone predisposed to alcoholism “lets” alcohol control them.
This isn’t to say we don’t need to each take steps to improve our situations or unplug from social media, but I’m pointing this out because of how it relates to your earlier diagnosis that “Everyone who uses social media is a loser”, which points the finger in the wrong direction and frames the issue as a personal problem vs. a growing systemic social issue.
Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”
#59Perhaps a better approach would be to randomly replace links in your social media app with links to a random image of what you imagine to be a social media addict, or someone who has ruined their lives due to social media. Perpahs with a message like "This will be you in X years". Hopefully over time the subconscious parts of your brain will get the message. In your current approach, the signalling is largely aimed a…
That’s the idea of the disturbing pictures on packs of cigarettes in Germany.
Not sure it works as well on people already addicted compared to people not yet addicted.
Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would work short term, but I would worry that it makes a a price to be paid which will impair joy in learning the subject in the long term. Its much better to make kids interested in learning than to reward reaching goals or punish failing to reach them.
On the other hand, the kids might do lot of exercises to keep playing, then they get better at something, then they realize that it is much more enjoyable to be good at something than not... Long term, it could still be a win. Obviously not the same, but in the first years of university, I hated math because it suddenly got hard (never before university did I have to learn math or physics just to barely pass). Then,…
> Then, after many nights of reading through books and practicing, grinding, I realized it's not that hard and it made me enjoy solving the "challenges".
The only thing I'd change from this wonderful comment is that it is that hard! It's just that, like any other hard skill, lots of dedicated study and practice makes it easier to do hard things.