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

getintention.com

91–100 of 143 posts

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

#91
post #87

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…

Yep, same problem here

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

#92
post #20
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…

Yay, glad you like it! I also found most tools to be too black and white. I made Intention to be the sweet middle path between blocking sites entirely and having unfettered access.

I can definitely relate to the unpleasantness of getting kicked out with no warning, so I included intelligent logic in Intention that handles cases gracefully. For example, on YouTube, it'll pause the current video when the lock activates but it won't pause the video if it's in a background tab so people can listen to music. Hopefully, you won't even notice these things and everything will Just Work.

Enjoy. :)

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

#93
post #90
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 al…

No need to apologize! I enjoy trying other tools in this space and learning from all the different practices they use. Will check out LeechBlock — thanks!

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

#94
post #20
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…

Check out Cold Turkey. It does everything you've asked for, I believe. I use it on and off.

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

#95

To the author: this is AWESOME. I find myself caught in the y/t/f loop all the time. I use a site blocker, but if I do want to visit a site, I end up turning off the blocker and forgetting to re-enable it. This seems like much a better solution that allows me access to the sites I need, but ensures I don't get lost in them, and tracks my usage. I am seriously so pumped about this, funny that I needed to visit one of…

Thanks so much! There's an in-product mechanism that shows messages on major updates, but I might create a mailing list / Slack channel for a more dedicate space for feedback and updates. If I do, it'll add it to the next in-product message.

Once I get through the incoming bugs, I'll spend some time thinking about what options to provide in Intention while making sure that the product stays simple. Appreciate the kind words!

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

#96

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.

Thanks for the fantastic advice. Keeping things simple is one of my core product principles, and I intend to be quite careful in what I add. I think it's much better to do a few things extremely well rather than many things somewhat okay.

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

#97
post #68

Thank you for releasing a Firefox version along side the chrome extension.

No problem! I personally use Chrome as my primary browser for various reasons, but I love Mozilla's mission to create an Internet that puts people before profits. Happy to support my privacy-forward users. :)

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

#99
post #72
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 also get sucked in by depth first searches that never end. And while it'd be cool to have an addon that made me check in on, you know, are you still trying to figure out that statistics problem you were looking at or are you relearning linear algebra instead... Firefox doesn't seem to have a reading list, at least not out of the box, and I don't end up using it on Mobile Safari anyway. Having a way to 'get out' of…

Interesting perspective to discuss. I think DFS that goes on forever reveal how poorly the internet organised information. There is never any certainty you have searched all available information. The internet’s knowledge base routinely gives 4-5 semi solutions for any given problem and it’s not always clear if transforming a vaguely similar solution is going to work better than reinventing the wheel from the ground up. The internet’s search functions can’t meaningfully refine or redirect your search beyond spell check and popularity.

Organising scattered forum posts and exhaustive api documentation into centralized and vetted problem solving tracks would be the next conceptual step for reducing search uncertainty in the face of infinite streams of posted information. There must be a better way of tackling the infinity of knowledge beyond string searches and documentation trees.

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