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Launch HN: Motion (YC W20) – defense against online distractions and addictions

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Launch HN: Motion (YC W20) – defense against online distractions and addictions

#81

Post by agrinman »

qiyuxuan96 wrote: post #66
agrinman wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about a DNS based approach on iOS? You don't need MDM, just a VPN extension. You could send push notifications when your DNS server detects a site to block and mimic the same UX you have with a browser extension.

You are correct - that would work to send reminders (notifications). However, we wouldn't be able to prevent people from using their apps. This is definitely something we are considering.

You could effectively block the network connectivity for them though by mapping domains to 127.0.0.1. Why wouldn't that be just as good? nextdns.io does a really good job of running such a service.

Re: Launch HN: Motion (YC W20) – defense against online distractions and addictions

#83

Post by Nextgrid »

The fact this is VC funded is a red flag. There’s no reason why such a simple tool needs VC-level funding, and as a consequence the VCs also won’t be happy with the (relatively) low revenue from a paid product compared to a scummy product that stalks users.

“We won’t sell your data” is just wishful thinking and we both know that. It’s only a matter of time before this turns malicious and starts spying on users or wasting their time for the sake of “engagement” (the very thing it’s designed to fight against).

Re: Launch HN: Motion (YC W20) – defense against online distractions and addictions

#84

Post by keenmaster »

qiyuxuan96 wrote: post #77
keenmaster wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the idea of looping in friends, I just wouldn't make the dollar payouts to them. I can imagine people enjoying sending money to their friends, partly for ironic comedic value (lol look how helpless I am, haha now we have a funny story of how I can't control myself and you're a terrible watchdog - maybe I'll even screenshot and post my failure so that our other friends can ironically enjoy this). For similar re…

That makes sense; I know people who've tried out this app called StickK where you donate to anti-charity if you don't follow habits. Definitely something on our minds.

Thanks for the share, Stickk looks interesting. Stayfocusd + Stickk, with cross-platform usage tracking, would be the holy grail. Another thing to note is that Stickk has a lot of user complaints, so there’s a lot of room for competition if they don’t iron out the kinks.

Re: Launch HN: Motion (YC W20) – defense against online distractions and addictions

#85

Post by trwhite »

ximeng wrote: post #56

The problem isn’t time spent on these sites, it’s finding better quality ways to spend the time. That’s the real challenge. Solution needs to be pull to something better not push away from something worse. Not that the push is necessarily bad but it’s not the full answer.

Couldn't agree more. This was fairly revelatory for me and I've been able to find more productive ways to spend my time recently. I even (shameless plug) wrote about it in a blog post: https://timwhite.digital/distractions

Re: Launch HN: Motion (YC W20) – defense against online distractions and addictions

#86

Post by ignoramous »

agrinman wrote: post #81
qiyuxuan96 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are correct - that would work to send reminders (notifications). However, we wouldn't be able to prevent people from using their apps. This is definitely something we are considering.

You could effectively block the network connectivity for them though by mapping domains to 127.0.0.1. Why wouldn't that be just as good? nextdns.io does a really good job of running such a service.

> nextdns.io does a really good job of running such a service.

It is not trivial to build, run, and operate a nextdns-esque service. The founders, Olivier and Romain, are some of the world's best at what they do, imo.

That said, a client-side DNS re-write solution might be relatively cheaper to implement and might even be a tad-easier than deploying an global DNS resolver with per-user custom configurations and endpoints.

Re: Launch HN: Motion (YC W20) – defense against online distractions and addictions

#87

Post by qiyuxuan96 »

trwhite wrote: post #85
ximeng wrote: post #56

The problem isn’t time spent on these sites, it’s finding better quality ways to spend the time. That’s the real challenge. Solution needs to be pull to something better not push away from something worse. Not that the push is necessarily bad but it’s not the full answer.

Couldn't agree more. This was fairly revelatory for me and I've been able to find more productive ways to spend my time recently. I even (shameless plug) wrote about it in a blog post: https://timwhite.digital/distractions

That's awesome! I have a question (we ourselves have been thinking very hard on this) - when you are about to start something distracting, and you catch yourself, how do you find and get yourself into a more productive alternative?

Re: Launch HN: Motion (YC W20) – defense against online distractions and addictions

#90

Post by qiyuxuan96 »

Nextgrid wrote: post #83

The fact this is VC funded is a red flag. There’s no reason why such a simple tool needs VC-level funding, and as a consequence the VCs also won’t be happy with the (relatively) low revenue from a paid product compared to a scummy product that stalks users. “We won’t sell your data” is just wishful thinking and we both know that. It’s only a matter of time before this turns malicious and starts spying on users or was…

Thank you for raising this concern. I believe YC sees value in our work not because they see money in us selling data; but rather they realize how big a problem we are solving, and, if we solve it correctly, how much value and time we bring to each person. A paid product can certainly generate much, much higher revenue than a product that sells data - Grammarly and LastPass are perfect examples of this.
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