Show HN: I made a Chrome extension to stop mindless browsing • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: I made a Chrome extension to stop mindless browsing

#81

Post by namuorg » Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 9:34 PM UTC

wussboy wrote: post #74

namuorg wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hm, this is a bit strange. It should work fine on Firefox, and a lot of other people on this thread seem to have no issues. Can you share what OS you're on and other extensions you have installed? Feel free to reply via email — my address is dk@getintention.com.

I think I got it sorted. I tried it on 6 different computers/laptops/VMs/Ubuntu/Windows and it never worked. Then I tried Chrome and after I clicked install I was presented with a picture of (I assume) you and a "Continue" button. I had never bothered to click on that before, always going straight to the extension button in the top right corner. However, if you don't press "Continue" it doesn't request the permission…

Ah, gotcha. If I'm understanding correctly, you skipped the onboarding which is where permissions are granted so it never worked.

Thanks for finding this! Will add a check like you suggested.

Re: Show HN: I made a Chrome extension to stop mindless browsing

#82

Post by LUFT » Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 9:40 PM UTC

But mindless browsing is how I found this post

Re: Show HN: I made a Chrome extension to stop mindless browsing

#83

Post by rgomez » Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 9:42 PM UTC

I've developed an easy to follow method to stop procrastinating in time "black-hole" sites, like social networks, etc... I've observed that the problem in my case is having the possibility of accessing my account at those sites immediately, as soon as I get bored doing any repetitive task at work, or I have an idea about something I could post in a social network, etc... So the easiest way for me to avoid that is to use a long, very-hard-to-remember password there, write it down in a notepad, and never save the login info in the browser. Bonus measure, you could leave the notepad outside home (in the car f.e.)... that way, losing time procastinating requires actually more effort for me than just stand up for a little and then return to work. The point is never allow that to be an easy option, an easy way to escape from responsibilities... Installed "walls" via browser extensions etc never really worked for me, as in the end I just disable them if I feel that's bothering me. PS. Also of course, avoid to save the cookie session once you close the browser in "dangerous" sites...

Re: Show HN: I made a Chrome extension to stop mindless browsing

#84

Post by geza » Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 9:46 PM UTC

This is quite similar to HabitLab https://habitlab.stanford.edu/ which also includes a number of other options (such as pausing videos on youtube before playing them, hiding comments and news feeds on Facebook, etc). [Disclaimer: I built HabitLab]

Re: Show HN: I made a Chrome extension to stop mindless browsing

#85

Post by namuorg » Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 9:55 PM UTC

el_benhameen wrote: post #60

namuorg wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yay! Honored you'd spend part of your daily limit to leave me a comment. :) Intention actually works on Firefox for Android so you can use it on Android today! Planning to build something special for iOS (the OS limitations make it challenging) in the future.

I don't have a lot to add here, but an upvote didn't seem like it fully expressed how much I like this. I really like this! If you do decide to make something for iOS, I would definitely pay a few bucks for it.

Yay, thanks! Appreciate it. :)

Re: Show HN: I made a Chrome extension to stop mindless browsing

#86

Post by grenoire » Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 9:56 PM UTC

rgomez wrote: post #83

I've developed an easy to follow method to stop procrastinating in time "black-hole" sites, like social networks, etc... I've observed that the problem in my case is having the possibility of accessing my account at those sites immediately, as soon as I get bored doing any repetitive task at work, or I have an idea about something I could post in a social network, etc... So the easiest way for me to avoid that is to…

Memorised a 14 character (incl. punctuation) password after attempting that, and really didn't take me long, unfortunately.

Re: Show HN: I made a Chrome extension to stop mindless browsing

#87

Post by dbasner » Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 10:07 PM UTC

I love this idea and just installed it. However it falls into a similar problem I have found myself in with iphone's screen time.

On my iphone I have found myself mindlessly clicking the "add 15 minutes" of screen time and typing in my 4 digit code so often that it is now just muscle memory to do so. Yes, I have no self control.

Could you add a feature so you have to type in a pin to continue BUT the number pad is in a random order, to break up muscle memory? Or randomly re-arrange the add 1,5,15 min buttons? Or a math problem?

Re: Show HN: I made a Chrome extension to stop mindless browsing

#88

Post by rgomez » Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 10:13 PM UTC

grenoire wrote: post #86

rgomez wrote: post #83

I've developed an easy to follow method to stop procrastinating in time "black-hole" sites, like social networks, etc... I've observed that the problem in my case is having the possibility of accessing my account at those sites immediately, as soon as I get bored doing any repetitive task at work, or I have an idea about something I could post in a social network, etc... So the easiest way for me to avoid that is to…

Memorised a 14 character (incl. punctuation) password after attempting that, and really didn't take me long, unfortunately.

Go for 64 characters then, if possible :-)

Re: Show HN: I made a Chrome extension to stop mindless browsing

#89

Post by WheelsAtLarge » Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 10:24 PM UTC

Great Job. I like the simplicity. As time passes you'll be tempted to add features. Be very selective, it's better not to add a feature than to add complexity without real benefits.

Re: Show HN: I made a Chrome extension to stop mindless browsing

#90

Post by kibwen » Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 10:36 PM UTC

stared wrote: post #20

namuorg wrote: post #2

Hey HN, I've been working on a Chrome/Firefox extension called Intention to help me stay focused and not get distracted, and for me and my friends, we've found it more effective than other tools we've tried. The idea behind it is extremely simple: Commit to a time limit before using a distracting site. This prevents the two most common ways that we get sucked into distractions online: 1. Habitual navigation: Througho…

I like this a lot. What I've found that: - No breaks is bad. - It is even worse when a 10 min break turns out to be a 2h rabbit hole. But most of the current software does not address that. For example: - I use social media after midnight, and it does not stop me then but cuts the limit for the next day. - There is a nasty surprise when an app kicks me out, with no warning. So nasty (especially when I am in the middl…

I've yet to check out the OP's extension, but I've used a Firefox extension called LeechBlock before which (with some creativity) can achieve your bullet points as well. For the first I would set up one blocking profile to apply through early morning and a different profile (with the same sites) for the rest of the day; for the second LeechBlock lets you put a countdown timer in the corner of the screen so that at all times you know how much time you have left; for the third it lets you set up an "Override" which will resume blocking after a certain amount of time.

(Sorry if this is distracting from the OP, I aim not to shill but to help more people make use of productivity tools in this era of endless distraction.)