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Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”

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Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”

#81

Post by BrandoElFollito »

serial_dev wrote: post #39
graemep wrote: post #32

Earlier 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,…

I have a PhD in physics and maths always were hard. I ended up having a toolbox to solve my common problems.

This is still useful after having left academia, I often look at something and the right "tool" pops up from the toolbox. It helos to understand the world around us and realize how much bullshit we are fed through doctored graphs or tables.

Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”

#82

Post by graemep »

quantadev wrote: post #77
graemep wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So make a phone without all the things that make it so profitable? Limit what they can be sold? You would have to sell it at a premium for less functionality. There are ways of locking down phones and apps, I think. I am pretty sure there are apps that will do most of what you want, but they do not have critical mass. I did set up a Jitsi server for my daughter and her friends at one point when another parent was not…

Right, I didn't mean it necessarily had to be on it's own hardware. I don't have any Android development experience, but it seems like android could have a version that's as locked down a this. If I had kids I wouldn't even allow use of a smartphone. I think hardly any BigTech execs let their own kids use these dumpster fires called smartphones and social media. They know there's almost zero benefits to it. Just lead…

Depends on age, individual, usage and circumstances. My kids had phones as teens, and they were useful to some extent. It also depends what they do - social media + doomscrolling is the worst thing.

There is Android support for locking things down for kids, but I do not know how effective it is - mine are adults of close to being an adult now.

Its also hard to do without. I would have to pay a lot more for my daughter's bus tickets to get to school if she did not use the bus company app (because that would mean daily tickets instead of monthly which are a lot cheaper). Its where a lot of kids not only discuss things and social, but organise things (although I encourage doing that at a desktop rather than a phone when possible) so kids without get left out.

Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”

#83

Post by dylan604 »

quantadev wrote: post #33
mikesabat wrote: post #12

If 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.

It certainly seems like someone would've invented a Kid Friendly phone by now that's completely safe, and doesn't allow access to the "real" internet at all, but only an ability to send texts without images, make voice calls, etc. Now that we have AI it would be easier, an you could potentially give "Google" access that's censored into a "child friendly" output by the AI. You could have a texting app where friends ca…

I'd rather solve math problems than CAPTCHAs any day of the week.

Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”

#84

Post by dylan604 »

rrgok wrote: post #73

Far from me criticizing people with disabilities. But are we, as a generation, really that desperate to use these kind of solutions to just control our impulses? Listen, I sometime spend my Saturday just doom scrolling and watching useless shorts for all day beside eating meals, doing nothing productive. But I can stop whenever I can. If you find hard stopping your compulsive behavior you have some other problem that…

I love it when normies come in and criticize addicts for having a lack of impulse control. Maybe we are not willing to use the addiction word, but until we accept people are addicted, we're never going to solve anything.

Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”

#85

Post by SoftTalker »

graemep wrote: post #70
bitwize wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Math is a grind. Inherently. You gotta drill the basic arithmetic in order to learn it, and no amount of sugarcoating will make kids like it. So incentivizing kids to commit to the grind will beat attempting to make the subject more interesting, every time. This is the lesson unlearned by proponents of "New Math" and "Common Core" in the USA; in fact, maybe one of the reasons why Singapore Math is so successful is be…

> You gotta drill the basic arithmetic in order to learn it Do less arithmetic. We have calculators so arithmetic matters less. > no amount of sugarcoating will make kids like it. Sugarcoating is exactly the wrong approach. Its making the subject itself enjoyable. https://profkeithdevlin.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/lockh... > This is the lesson unlearned by proponents of "New Math" and "Common Core" in the USA Not…

> We have calculators so arithmetic matters less.

Disagee. Fluency in basic arithmetic is a very useful life skill.

Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”

#87

Post by kevindamm »

recursive wrote: post #71

A lot of people are objecting to the "loser" unlock key. A lot of ideas about what to do instead. I think the biggest problem with social media is the loss of attention span. So I think it should force you to stare into the camera for 180 seconds without context switching to unlock. Practice focus to unlock distraction.

180 seems very high to me and I've already quit social networks (well, except for some forum-like ones such as HN).

I like the idea, though, maybe five minutes for every 30 seconds of non-distracted gaze? Or something like that and tunable. Maybe even dynamic to the amount of time spent scrolling the feed in the last x hours?

Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”

#89

Post by janalsncm »

GavCo wrote: post #3

This 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:/…

It could work if they were rewarded for not opening social media. Otherwise that doesn’t make sense.

Re: Show HN: Scream to Unlock – Blocks social media until you scream “I'm a loser”

#90

Post by janalsncm »

haswell wrote: post #13
hodder wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the point is you aren't a winner if you are unlocking social media. You are opening the gate to loserdom. I'm not sure how the I'm a winner concept would apply here using one of the four methods of operant conditioning. The research stands, but the practical application of his app is based on a Positive Punishment operant conditioning.

> 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…

> And I think it’s a stretch to say that screaming “I’m a loser” is positive punishment

A positive punishment is giving the subject something they don’t like. For example corporeal punishment.

A negative punishment is taking away something the subject does like. For example food.

Importantly punishments need to happen after the unwanted behavior. So being punished before the behavior occurs doesn’t make any sense.

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