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

237 points madinmo | 3 comments | 25 Jun 25 10:49 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source

Hi all,

I kept wasting time on social media, even though I’d promised myself I’d stay focused. Regular site blockers didn’t help.

I needed something that felt annoying enough to break the habit. That’s how the idea came up: make the blocker ask me to say something embarrassing out loud before it lets me back in. If I actually have to yell “I’m a loser” into my mic. Even better - the louder I screamed, the more time I’d get.

So I put together Scream to Unlock. It’s silly, but so far it’s done its job. My social feeds stay locked unless I really want them.

Extension link - https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/scream-to-unlock-ye...

Its open source and transparent - https://github.com/Pankajtanwarbanna/scream-to-unlock. No data collection or tracking, Audio processing happens locally in your browser. No recordings saved or transmitted.

1. wraptile ◴[26 Jun 25 04:26 UTC] No.44384173[source]▶
I genuinely don't get this. Let's say you believe it's an addiction - how is this an acceptable treatment? Would we justify something like this for alcoholics? "Scream you're a loser for another can of beer"

I'm not attacking this project and OP per se but if we do believe that social media addiction is a real problem we're approaching it in very immature ways. It's either an easy problem than can be solved with temperance or its a hard problem that needs to be solved with real science based tools. Anything in-between seems like it could be more harmful than helpful.

replies(1): >>44384901 #
2. ramblerman ◴[26 Jun 25 06:58 UTC] No.44384901[source]▶
you talk as if people have never overcome addiction with sheer willpower.
replies(1): >>44385295 #
3. wraptile ◴[26 Jun 25 08:16 UTC] No.44385295[source]▶
Not sure what makes you think that way. I explictly said easy issues can be overcome with temperance (i.e. willpower) and hard issues need strong scientific based solutions. "Scream I'm a loser" is neither.