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

238 points madinmo | 1 comments | 25 Jun 25 10:49 UTC | HN request time: 0.381s | 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.

Show context
rrgok ◴[25 Jun 25 16:48 UTC] No.44379358[source]▶
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 these kind of apps can't solve.
replies(1): >>44379801 #
dylan604 ◴[25 Jun 25 17:29 UTC] No.44379801[source]▶
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.
replies(1): >>44384201 #
wraptile ◴[26 Jun 25 04:33 UTC] No.44384201[source]▶
Except things like this are not treatment but just memes
replies(1): >>44387756 #
1. dylan604 ◴[26 Jun 25 14:25 UTC] No.44387756[source]▶
If you think addiction to using a device is a meme, then we do have problems. Screaming to unlock, yes, is not useful in correcting addictive behavior. That doesn't mean the issue attempting to be addressed is not an actual problem though. Redirecting the conversation back to the actual problem is better than just throwing the baby out with the bath water because this attempt at the problem isn't a real solve