Chrome Extension that stops your Social Media addiction

Problem

How many times today did you type:

- f (as faceboook)
- t (as twitter)
- i (as instagram)
- y (as youtube)
- r (as reddit)

or other?

How many times today did you open a new tab, and subconsciously, without much thinking, you are on Facebook? Again.

Things that are easy to access, are hard to avoid. And, I have been in this trap too. Here is a solution I have been working on.

Help

I have created a Google Chrome Extension with a simple purpose.

- It prevents you from visiting social media. (you can also customize the list of sites)

- It handles your temptation of visiting social media. (or other sites you specify)

- It makes you more productive!

Where to get it

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stop-social-media/jdeohkoemlaidjgdhlcchdmgdghihjag

Final thoughts

Any feedback and any thoughts on this topic very appreciated!
Thank you!

Comments

[Patryk]

Nice, and definitely something useful, but while I haven't written any extensions ever and haven't fully dug through the code, it appears to be closing your already open tabs and not even saving them?

To me, that is a big no-no. I often have tabs open for various work-related discussions on reddit, and I'd be hella mad if it just closed them all randomly. (I know, I should really bookmark the ones I need to keep.)

[Pavel Bucka]

Hello Patryk,

I am sending you some notes that should clarify this:

• There is a Checkbox in the Options than allows you to easily and temporarily disable (and re-enable) the plugin.

• Newly opened Tabs are now remembered. In case you would disable the plugin, open the pages that are in the blocklist, and then re-enable the plugin, the tabs of opened blocked pages will be automatically closed.

• If you remove pages from the blacklist and open them (as they are no longer blocked), and then you decide to put them back to the blacklist again, the opened tabs of those blocked pages will be automatically closed.

[Patryk]

As we speak, I have 13 Chrome windows open (yes, I know I have a problem 😅), each averaging around 20 tabs, so until I go through those and clean them up (I do that every couple of months) and make sure it doesn't close stuff I want to keep, I won't be enabling that extension.

But I have thought I should write something similar in the past, so I starred it on github :)

[Pavel Bucka]

Would you be happy if opened sites (that are on the blocklist while the plugin is temporarily disabled) would NOT be closed once the plugin is re-enabled?

This is something that can be done. Thanks for the feedback! :)

[Patryk]

The way I see it, you should never randomly close tabs without confirmation. Preventing a user from opening a tab is expected. Not everyone sees things the same way, of course. Some users (e.g. me) would want to keep at least some of their tabs open. Others might want to close all of them.

Ideally, I think such an extension shouldn't close any tabs without prompts.

• On browser start, or when plugin is first enabled:
  • make a list of tabs matching the block list
  • offer an option to check the ones to close
  • optionally, save a list of the closed ones so they can be reopened and aren't fully lost.

I used to use The Great Suspender, or a similar extension to limit my amount of open tabs.

[Pavel Bucka]

I am sorry, but we may disagree on this.

Consider this. Would you see convenient to confirm the close of your 30+ Facebook tabs?

The whole purpose of the plugin is not to visit the pages that keep you distracted and take your focus away.

PS: The Great Suspender is a completely different thing. It's a memory management tool for Chrome.

[Patryk]

I realize that it's different, but it does allow you to exclude some tabs from suspension.

As for facebook, yes. I would like to be asked for confirmation.

If url === 'https://www.facebook.com', sure, you can close it. If I close the browser and re-open it, it will refresh the homepage and show me different content anyway (same as reddit, or twitter).

However, if url === 'https://facebook.com/events/something_i_want_to_attend', it should not randomly close it and make it difficult for me to find it again. Or if it's a post a friend shared I want to read later. Or a thread on reddit where someone asked the same question that I have. Or just a really funny meme that I want to show my gf in the evening but don't feel like downloading, bookmarking, or adding to Facebook collections.

I find it easier to press Ctrl+t and type fa+enter and end up on Facebook and get distracted than open tab #27 in Chrome window #6 (I move most not actively used windows into a different KDE Plasma Activity, so I don't get distracted by those much).

we may disagree

Of course.

Everyone has their own style of working, (good or bad) habits, etc. I'm not claiming to represent the majority of your users, but if an extension closed without prompting my reddit tabs with important information in r/docker and r/vuejs and r/django because I am reading about three different topics, and trying to integrate them all into a coherent whole, I would consider it a form of data loss, and be annoyed, tbh. Personal opinion, and I respect what you have done even if my vision and needs differ :)

[S.B. A. Kates]

Hello,
Why was this removed from the Chrome store? I tried to install it on my new computer and couldn't find it. Is it secretly mining information?